It would be my contention that the only help that is required is some early, brief and strong advice to quit drinking permanently. The RR decision making guide and lesson plan available for free is perfectly adequate.
However, a firm warning from a doctor that it is "quit or die" is often sufficient.
There are many non-group methods whose only help is a stern rebuke to quit now, forever. Many Catholic rites have saints dedicated to this, and many people pledge permanent abstinence in this manner and perform various religious rituals associated with it, and it works great. Very popular and common in Hispanic tradition.
As far as secular counseling goes, however, it is my belief that only formerly addicted people are really in a position to understand and advise the one true path: planned, permanent abstinence based on the structural model of addiction. An understanding of the structural model of addiction allows the addict to understand and effortlessly resist the inevitable urges to drink that will crop up.
The reason that only the formerly addicted are capable in this is that only they understand the deep pleasure, the insidious seductiveness, the constant rationalizing of drinking as an innocent act.
Non-addicted counselors prescribe things such as moderation, confession to others, delving into childhood dramas, etc., that do no good and are possibly harmful.
The only advice that matters is that which advises immediate, permanent cessation, Very few in the professional counseling field will furnish such frank advice, and all are former addicts. Almost everyone else believes recovery is a process, not an act.
It is an act: quit drinking permanently and you are forever cured of excessive alcohol consumption.
Last edited by Greenwood618; 03-02-2015 at 10:19 AM.
Reason: sp