Cunning, Baffling, Powerful: Bill Wilson’s Struggle with Addiction

A complex man with a compelling story. Bill Wilson’s life has an intrinsic fascination in and of itself. But beyond its subject’s drama, lies the issues it brings up, particularly around the causes and treatment of alcoholism and addiction in general. Alcoholism is said to be a biopsychosocial disorder. This dramatization of Wilson’s struggles illuminates aspects of the disease.

 

Psychodynamic Treatment of Alcohol Abuse

View of alcohol abuse as emergent from the interaction of four factors: the pharmacology of alcohol, genetic predisposition, environment, and psychodynamics.Alcohol abuse is best conceptualized as a biopsychosocial disorder. Patients presenting with alcohol problems demonstrate considerable commonality, and even if that commonality is the product of their drinking rather than its cause, the clinician must deal with it. (68 pp.)