CONTENTS

About This Course

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to the Issues
2. Understanding Alcohol Abuse
3. Understanding Violence Against Women
4. Alcohol and Domestic Violence
5. Alcohol, Sexual Assault, and Rape
6. Prevention and Early Intervention
7. Screening and Assessment
8. Diagnosis and Treatment
9. Legal and Ethical Issues

Supplements
Fact Sheets
Videos
Resources

Silence Hurts
Alcohol Abuse and Violence Against Women

Theories of Addiction

The high rates of relapse, even after participation in treatment programs, force health/mental health professionals to examine closely the prevailing theories of addiction. There is no clear consensus among researchers on why some people become addicted or abuse substances. Some of the theories include:^11,12

• Cognitive-Behavioral Theory. This theory helps individuals understand the inaccuracy of their cognitive assumptions and learn new strategies and tools to deal with the stresses of everyday life. People who also abuse alcohol may justfy their addiction based on the dysfunction in their lives. In early recovery, the sober person learns to act in healthier ways, even if the behavior seems foreign. Persons must "do" before they "think." Eventually, appropriate and healthy behaviors lead to a change in thinking.
• Disease Theory. This theory is what underlies 12-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). It is based on the concept that addiction is a progressive, incurable, and irreversible disease caused by a physiological deficit for which the only treatment is abstinence. Addiction is viewed as a biobehavioral disorder in that it involves inseparable biological and behavioral components.¹³
• Genetic Theory. This theory states that some people have a family history of alcoholism and are genetically predisposed to it. Therefore, a child of one or two alcoholic parents will have a greater chance of becoming alcoholic than a child whose parents are not alcoholics.
• General Systems Theory. The individual is seen as part of a larger social system (family, community). The failure of a family or society to meet the person's needs is the cause of substance abuse and the focus for change when initiating treatment.
• Biopsychosocial or Adaptive Theory. This model combines the principles of the disease model and behavioral models. This model looks at the interaction of biological predisposing factors and sociological and psychological factors. The intervention focuses on medical and mental health issues, cognition, affective behavior, childhood trauma, and environment.¹⁴