Abstract
The article reviews a treatment program – the Karolinska project for Early treatment of Women with Alcohol Addiction (EWA) – located at the Magnus Huss Clinic, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. EWA was developed by Dahlgren and collaborators to attract women early in their drinking careers by challenging women’s difficulties when seeking treatment for problem drinking. Basic structure of the EWA program is a short inpatient stay – if necessary – followed by long-term, frequent appointments at the outpatient department. Therapist stability through inpatient and outpatient services is aimed at, since stability and duration of relationship between patient and therapist seem to be important factors related to outcome. Treatment is focused on the alcohol problem, but addresses psychiatric disorders complicating the drinking problem, as well as the woman’s relationships with partner and children. The authors advocate special programs to be developed for women problem drinkers – sensitive to these women’s treatment needs and life situation. These specialized programs should also function as competence centres for health personnel dealing with female problem drinkers in a variety of treatment settings, aiming at increasing general awareness and promoting early detecion and intervention among problem drinking women.