Alcoholic Outpatient Treatment: A Follow-up Study of Ten Patients Who Terminated Individual Psychotherapy at the State University Alcohol Clinic, King’s County Hospital, From January, 1960 to December, 1961

Background of the Study. In 1939, according to the Jellinek formula, there were approximately three million persons living in the United States suffering from some degree of alcoholism. In 1959, according to the same formula, the estimate had risen to better than five million persons. During the same two decades, besides these changing statistics, the concepts regarding alcoholism and its treatment have also undergone considerable change. Many theories, some reasonable and some not so reasonable, including the actual denial that alcoholism is a problem at all, are now current. Fortunately in more informed circles the alcoholic patient is now considered a sick person rather than a social outcast. Society, for the most part, has recognized alcoholism as a Public Health problem and has therefore assumed a degree of responsibility in facing this malady. Drinking has always been recognized as a part of American culture. It is not unusual for drinking to begin as early as the late teens. For the most part the pattern begins as a part of organized social life in which the individual participates. Once drinking has begun, there is always the risk that it will become a problem to the user. One study revealed that only ten percent of the chronic alcoholics began as solitary drinkers. The remaining ninety percent took their first drink in some social situation. The amount of money spent on alcohol in the United States alone is phenomenal. Each year Americans spend more money for alcohol than they spend educating their children. Of the seventy million drinkers in the United States today there are approximately five million who are in some stage of alcoholism. The Jellinek formula has estimated the incidences of alcoholism in any community of any significant size to be about three percent of all the adults and it is primarily for this segment of the population that the public is now showing its concern