PO Box 1980

Sometimes, I feel that one of the great handicaps to recovery from alcoholism is the existence of treatment centers for alcoholics. It is as if the alcoholic needs treatment and this will result in recovery. (Research by Dr. Harold Mulford of Iowa Indicates that recovery programs, including AA, have a recovery rate of twenty-four to thirty-four percent.) The overall philosophy is that the family or the state pays a second party to treat the third party who is an alcoholic, and this is to solve the problem. My philosophy is that the family or first party should pay the second party to teach the family how to cope with its own problems. This, in turn, multiplies the probability of the alcoholic's being motivated sufficiently to seek help for himself (or herself) and recover.