A Classification of Alcoholics Relevant to Type-Specific Treatment

Abstract

This classification is intended to meet four criteria for a good taxomony so that it might serve as a guide for matching types of alcoholics with types of treatments. Steps used to develop the classification include: isolating prognostic indicators (prognostic indicators are personal characteristics of alcoholics that are shown empirically related to treatment response), hypothesizing how 50 prognostic indicators should cluster, measuring the indicators among 60 male alcoholics from five different treatment facilities, and comparing the hypothesized clusters with clusters derived by the Johnson maximum hierarchical clustering procedure. Two hypothesized clusters, which were largely confirmed, were converted to Social Stability and Intellectual Functioning Scales. These scales were used to classify 60 original and 20 additional nonrandomly selected alcoholics into four types. The classification awaits replication and a test of the effectiveness of type-specific treatment.