TY  - JOUR
PY  - 1979//
TI  - Delay in seeking help and onset of crisis among Al-Anon wives
JO  - American journal of drug and alcohol abuse encompassing all addictive disorders
A1  - Gorman, J. M.
A1  - Rooney, J. F.
SP  - 223
EP  - 233
VL  - 6
IS  - 2
N2  - A survey of 123 Al-Anon wives in the Washington, D.C. area revealed that these women delayed an average of more than 7 years after the first occurrence of problem drinking before finally seeking help. The various drinking-related problems antecedent to the wives' seeking help clustered into four time periods composed of similar types of problems; (1) nonthreatening events, such as arrest, occurred 7 years prior to help seeking; (2) acts of physical violence, 5 years; (3) intervention by outside authorities, 3 years; and (4) recognition by significant others that the drinking was out of control, 2 years. The phenomenon of extended delay before recognition of the problem and help seeking is consistent with the paradigm developed from studies of mental patients and their families: pathological behavior becomes defined as a problem only after a long accumulation of bizarre episodes.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0095-2990
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -