Such an approach identifies battering either as a symptom of alcohol abuse or addiction or as an addiction itself. The interventions that follow are based on a number of harmful, false assumptions: .
Alcohol use and/or alcoholism causes men to batter. .
Alcoholism treatment alone will address the abuse adequately. .
Weak people are "co-dependent" and thus contribute to the continuation of abuse. .
Even for batterers who do drink, there is little evidence to suggest a clear pattern that relates the drinking to the abusive behavior. The majority (76 percent) of physically abusive incidents on campuss occur in the absence of alcohol use, and there is no evidence to suggest that alcohol use or dependence is linked to the other forms of coercive behaviors that are part of the pattern of domestic violence. .
The belief that alcoholism causes violence on campuss evolves both from a lack of information about the nature of this abuse and from adherence to the "disinhibition theory." This theory suggests that the physiological effects of alcohol include a state of lowered inhibitions in which an individual can no longer control his behavior. Research conducted within the alcoholism field, however, suggests that the most significant determinant of behavior after drinking is not the physiological effect of the alcohol itself, but the expectation that individuals place on the drinking experience. When cultural norms and expectations about male behavior after drinking include boisterous or aggressive behaviors, for example, research shows that individual men are more likely to engage in such behaviors when under the influence than when sober. .
Evolving from the belief that alcohol or substance abuse causes is the belief that treatment for the chemical dependency will stop the violence. People with drug-dependent friends and neighbours, however, consistently report that during recovery the abuse not only continues, but often escalates, creating greater levels of danger than existed prior to their partners? abstinence.