Abstract
Alcoholism can be understood as a self-treatment for existential pain. A 5-day treatment was designed to relieve this psychological pain and existential anxiety, and thereby diminish the need for self-treatment with alcohol. The basic principle behind the treatment was holistic, restoring the quality of life (QOL) and relationship with self, which according to the life mission theory happens when life-denying views are corrected and inner emotional conflicts are solved. The method in this treatment was a course with teachings in philosophy of life, psychotherapy, and body therapy. The synergy attained was considerable and the outcome demonstrates that in the course of 1 week, people have time to revise essential life-denying views and to integrate important, unfinished life events involving negative feelings. This was demonstrated by an improved QOL and a decrease in their dependency and need for alcohol abuse. In the week before, after the 5-day course, and again after 1 and 3 months, the 16 participants completed the SEQOL questionnaire on QOL and health. This was a pilot study based on a pre-experimental design, without a control group and without clinical control. Common for the group were a low QOL, numerous health problems, and alcohol dependency in spite of treatment with Antabus® (disulfiram). The study showed an increase in QOL from 57.6% before the course to 69.4% 3 months after the course, or an improvement in QOL of 11.8%. There was a 24.0% improvement in self-perceived mental health, and satisfaction with health in general was improved by 11.1%. The total sum of health symptoms in the group was reduced from 59% of maximum to 33%. It is concluded that for this small and motivated group with alcohol problems, it was possible to improve QOL and health in only 5 days with a holistic treatment that combined philosophy of life, psychotherapy, and body therapy, but the results are not final. Further research is needed.
Highlights
Alcoholism is a public health issue costing every modern society billions of dollars in direct and indirect expenses[1,2]
The Minnesota Model demonstrates that psychosocial treatment can be very effective, but many alcoholics hesitate to participate, as they feel uneasy with the religious concept, it is fairly expensive, and many alcoholics are not helped by this intervention in the long term
In our work with quality of life (QOL), we focused on measuring global and generic QOL, using SEQOL and, through the Copenhagen Perinatal Birth Cohort 1959–61, looked at long-term aspects of QOL compared with events in pregnancy and early childhood[9,11]
Summary
Alcoholism is a public health issue costing every modern society billions of dollars in direct and indirect expenses[1,2]. Some researchers have found a genetic connection, while others have suggested that alcoholism is basically selftreatment for anxiety and psychological pain[3,4]. This is in accordance with the known tranquillising effect of alcohol. The Minnesota model is based on admitting the alcohol dependency to peers and in basic trust. It starts with a 5-week in-patient course, helping people to realise their poor situation and their need for personal improvement. The Minnesota Model demonstrates that psychosocial treatment can be very effective, but many alcoholics hesitate to participate, as they feel uneasy with the religious concept, it is fairly expensive (in Denmark about 8,000 USD for the first 5 weeks), and many alcoholics are not helped by this intervention in the long term
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