Counselling for Alcohol Problems, third edition, is a practical and bestselling guide to working with people who have problems with their use of alcohol. It is the key book recommended by most alcohol counselling courses in the UK, including the Scottish national alcohol counsellors training scheme. The author provides clear guidance for counsellors and demonstrates the need to treat every client as an individual, attempting to understand and therefore enable the client to understand, what they are doing and why. This new edition includes: - New content on the current political, social and counselling context surrounding alcohol use - A wider range of case-studies - New ideas that help students and trainees develop the skills and strategies they need for working with their clients - Further guidance for generic or non-alcohol counsellors who face alcohol problems with their clients. This third edition is an invaluable resource for practitioners, both those specialising in work with alcohol misusers and those who encounter problem drinkers in the context of a more general counselling practice.

This eminently practical guide presents an empirically supported approach for treating people with substance abuse problems and their spouses or domestic partners. Behavioral couples therapy (BCT) explicitly focuses on both substance use and relationship issues, and is readily compatible with 12-step approaches. In a convenient large-size format, the book provides all the materials needed to introduce BCT; implement a recovery contract to support abstinence; work with clients to increase positive activities, improve communication, and reduce relapse risks; and deal with special treatment challenges. Appendices include a session-by-session treatment manual and 70 reproducible checklists, forms, and client education posters.

This book has been replaced by Treating Alcohol and Drug Problems in Psychotherapy Practice, Second Edition, ISBN 978-1-4625-5086-9.

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a major public health problem in the United States. The estimated 12-month and lifetime prevalence values for AUD are 13.9% and 29.1%, respectively, with approximately half of individuals with lifetime AUD having a severe disorder. AUD and its sequelae also account for significant excess mortality and cost the United States more than $200 billion annually. Despite its high prevalence and numerous negative consequences, AUD remains undertreated. In fact, fewer than 1 in 10 individuals in the United States with a 12-month diagnosis of AUD receive any treatment. Nevertheless, effective and evidence-based interventions are available, and treatment is associated with reductions in the risk of relapse and AUD-associated mortality. The American Psychiatric Association Practice Guideline for the Pharmacological Treatment of Patients With Alcohol Use Disorder seeks to reduce these substantial psychosocial and public health consequences of AUD for millions of affected individuals. The guideline focuses specifically on evidence-based pharmacological treatments for AUD in outpatient settings and includes additional information on assessment and treatment planning, which are an integral part of using pharmacotherapy to treat AUD. In addition to reviewing the available evidence on the use of AUD pharmacotherapy, the guideline offers clear, concise, and actionable recommendation statements, each of which is given a rating that reflects the level of confidence that potential benefits of an intervention outweigh potential harms. The guideline provides guidance on implementing these recommendations into clinical practice, with the goal of improving quality of care and treatment outcomes of AUD.