EFFECTIVENESS OF POWER MOTIVATION TRAINING IN REHABILITATING ALCOHOLICS

Of 100 alcoholics treated at a Veterans Administration hospital (mean age 44.7, 2 women), half were randomly assigned to power motivation training (PMT), designed to help alcoholics feel strong and be effective without drinking, in addition to their standard treatment (ST) program, and half to ST alone. At 6 and 12 mo. follow-ups there were no significant differences between the 2 groups in frequency of intoxication or in work adjustment. The patients'' responses to the Multi-Level Research Questionnaire (Borgatta) were factor analyzed. One factor, Bureaucratic Conservatism, interacted significantly with type of treatment (P < .01). While ST patients with high scores on this factor reported less frequent intoxication than did ST patients with lower scores, the opposite was true for PMT patients. These results were independent of the patients'' receiving supportive outpatient counseling or disulfiram, or their participation in Alcoholics Anonymous. Power motivation training, although beneficial for antiauthoritarian alcoholics, is not suitable for patients with a need and respect for authority.