Grace Patterson decided to call a psychologist, Dr. Lawton, about her husband, Michael. She was worried about his history of heavy drinking, which.had esca-lated recently. Dr. Lawton suggested that...

Grace Patterson decided to call a psychologist, Dr. Lawton, about her husband, Michael. She was worried about his history of heavy drinking, which.had esca-lated recently. Dr. Lawton suggested that she talk to Michael about her concerns. He recommended that she pick a time when Michael had not been drinking. She should tell him that she had spoken to a psychologist who agreed to see Michael for an evaluation and make recommendations. Grace called again several weeks later. Michael had refused to consider the possibility of seeing a psychologist. Grace had no idea what to do next, so Dr. Lawton scheduled an appointment to meet with her alone. They dis-cussed ways Grace could change her interactions with Michael to motivate him to enter treatment. She was instructed to describe calmly to him the negative consequences of his drinking and to express how concerned she was about it. Grace and Dr. Lawton identified several recent incidents and rehearsed how she could respond. For example, several weeks ago Michael and Grace had dinner plans with another couple, but by late afternoon Michael was too drunk to go out. Grace had to call the other couple and make an excuse about canceling the dinner. That evening they had a huge argument about his drinking. Whenever Michael was really drunk, it was impossible to have a reasoned conversation with him, especially about his drinking. In the future, Grace was to wait until the next morning and then express her concerns about the drinking and how this pattern might cause them to lose good friends. The problem was ruining their marriage. A month later, Grace called Dr. Lawton to say that there had been no change in Michael's drinking. She described several occasions in which she had talked with him about the destructive effects his drinking was having on their lives. Although Grace was discouraged, Dr. Lawton persuaded her to continue the plan. Three weeks later, Grace called to make an appointment for both her and Michael to come in for the evaluation. They had a terrible fight the night before; Michael had raised his hand to hit her but held back at the last second. This incident apparently alarmed Michael as much as it frightened Grace, and so he finally agreed to come in.
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