Belgrade systemic approach to the treatment of alcoholism: principles and interventions

This article describes an ecosystemic approach to alcoholism (ESTA) developed in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. The fundamental principle is that alcoholism is a problem of the whole context, involving the index patient, the family and wider systems including the work system.
The treatment programme, which integrates contemporary principles of the treatment of alcoholism with family-systems ideas covering biomedical-psychological-sociocultural levels, is also described and illustrated by a detailed case example.