A note on the treatment of alcoholics by a verbal aversion technique. The Canadian Psychologist

In this report, a new form of aversion technique based on verbal conditioning is described for a sample of 26 alcoholics. The tech-nique has the advantage of not requiring the use of drugs or electrical apparatus. All patients who completed treatment have abstained to date (8 to 15 months), Follow-up studies are in progress. L'auteur decrit une nouvelle technique d'aversion basee sur un con-ditionnement verbal pour un groupe de 26 alcoholiques. Cette tech-nique a l'avantage de ne faire aucun usage d'appareils electriques on de supefiants. Tous les patients ayant subi ce traitement se sont abstenus de produits alcoholiques jusqua a date (de 8 a 15 mois.) Des etudes de "follow-up " sont en voie d'elaboration. Negative conditioning in the form of 'aversion relief has been widely used in the treatment of alcoholism, drug addic-tion, homosexuality, fetishism, and transvestism (Thimann