@article{ref1,
title="Communication skills training with alcoholics for improving performance of two of the alcoholics anonymous recovery steps",
journal="Journal of studies on alcohol",
year="1989",
author="Anderson, J. G. and Gilbert, F. S.",
volume="50",
number="4",
pages="361-367",
abstract="Thousands of men and women have begun their recovery from alcoholism through the support of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). AA recognizes its social support role in defining itself as a &quot;fellowship,&quot; but it also sees itself as offering a program of recovery. This program is comprised of the well-known &quot;12-Step&quot; method, which has been adapted by a variety of self-help groups. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether performance of two of these steps, Steps 4 and 5, could be facilitated by teaching communication skills specifically designed to improve their performance. Hospitalized alcoholics were assigned to communication-skills training, discussion and assessment-only groups, and their pre- and posttreatment performance on videotaped role-plays of Steps 4 and 5 was assessed. Subjects in the communication-skills training group were found to improve significantly on internal versus external focus, personal responsibility taking, congruent affect and composite skill variables compared to the discussion and assessment-only groups. These results suggest that, among treatment programs that utilize AA's recovery program, the behavioral skills inherent in completing Steps 4 and 5 need to be taught. Merely discussing or alluding to the steps, as is often-times done in group therapy of &quot;step-study&quot; sessions, is unlikely to have any effect on alcoholics' abilities to &quot;work the steps.&quot;<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0096-882X",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}