Psychotherapy of alcoholics; the concept of psychotherapeutic motivation.

The psychiatric patient's compliance with requirements of therapy (attendance, responsiveness, verbalization, etc.) often is adopted by the therapist as the chief criterion of motivation for cure. By these standards alcoholics often are judged to be poorly motivated and unsuited to the therapist's mode of therapy. In such cases, the method may have to be adapted to the case, and a more permissive attitude taken toward the patient's apparent noncooperation.