MICROCOMPUTERS AND PREVENTION OF DRUG-ABUSE

In recent years, the psychological treatment of drug addiction has been dominated by an emphasis on learning theory and an interest in minimal and self-administered treatment. The computer provides the consummate medium for bringing these components together. This paper reports on two computer-assisted learning programs, one for the prevention of relapse in former heroin users and the other for the promotion of controlled drinking in early-stage problem drinkers. The need for this type of technology is supported by mounting evidence that drug and alcohol misusers prefer self-help to psychotherapy and that most addicts who manage to overcome their addiction do so on their own.