Clinical Guide to Alcohol Treatment: The Community Reinforcement Approach

This book is the first complete guide to implementing the Community Reinforcement Approach (CRA), an empirically based, highly effective cognitive-behavioral program for treating alcohol problems. An ideal program for any practitioner trying to reconcile the needs of their clients with mandates of HMOs and insurance providers, this approach has been deemed one of the most cost-effective treatments available by recent research. CRA acknowledges the powerful role of environmental contingencies in encouraging or discouraging drinking, and attempts to rearrange these contingencies so that a non-drinking lifestyle is more rewarding than a drinking one. Unique in its breadth, the approach utilizes social, recreational, familial, and vocational strategies to aid clients in the recovery process. This authoritative manual is a hands-on guide to applying these therapeutic procedures.

Opening with an account of the history of CRA and the empirical support for its efficacy, the book addresses the clinical concerns of those treating substance abusing clients. Specific instructions are provided for conducting detailed assessments of the client and interviewing concerned others. Sobriety sampling and disulfiram use within CRA are discussed in chapters of their own.

The authors then present a step-by-step guide to each component of the treatment plan, many of which have been shown to be effective forms of treatment in themselves. Topics include

* behavioral skills training
* social and recreational counseling
* marital therapy
* motivational enhancement
* job counseling
* relapse prevention

Each chapter provides detailed instructions for conducting a procedure, describes what difficulties to expect, and presents strategies for overcoming them. Sample dialogues between clients and therapists, annotated by the authors, further illuminate the treatment process. The book concludes with a chapter that both addresses the common mistakes made when implementing CRA, and emphasizes the flexibility and benefits of this total treatment plan.

An accessible and practical program, CRA can be implemented by all clinicians who treat alcohol abusing clients, regardless of orientation. Providing a cost-effective approach that is highly efficacious, Clinical Guide to Alcohol Treatment is an invaluable resource for the wide range of practitioners working in today's managed-care environment, including psychologists, psychiatrists, substance abuse counselors, and social workers.


Author: Robert J. Meyers, Jane Ellen Smith
Publisher: Guilford Publications
Published: 08/04/1995
Pages: 211
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.12lbs
Size: 9.28h x 6.28w x 0.92d
ISBN: 9780898628579

About the Author
Robert J. Meyers, M.S., is the Clinical Director of several CRA grants at the Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse, and Addictions (CASAA) at the University of New Mexico. One of the original CRA therapists, he has worked as a clinician, trainer, and supervisor in the substance abuse field for nearly 20 years, and has played a valuable role in the development of CRA.

Jane Ellen Smith, PhD, is Director of Clinical Training in the Department of Psychology at the University of New Mexico.

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