ABSTRACT
The alcoholic has been much neglected in major Gestalt writings about either theory or therapy. This is surprising and also distressing considering the prevalence of alcoholism in the population at large (approximately 10%) and its drastically higher prevalence in people seeking therapy or mental health treatment (40% in some studies; see Brown, Ridgely, Pepper, Levine, & Ryglewicz, 1989). Unless alcoholics are accurately identified and referred to specialists, these prevalance rates suggest that a significant portion of clients treated by Gestalt therapists may be alcoholic.
