2011-03-14

[DIV28M] G. Alan Marlatt

For those of you who have not yet heard, Alan Marlatt died this morning, Monday, March 14, after a short illness. Alan was a giant in our field, making multiple, distinct, seminal contributions in both basic and applied research. His basic contributions included innovating the use of the balanced-placebo design to highlight the role of nonpharmacological factors in determining putative drug effects (e.g., alcohol-related aggression, so called "loss of control" drinking) and demonstrating the role of social influences on drinking. Because of Alan's influence, there are a number of BARLABs around the country used to study drinking in a natural environment. (He used to note that a participant in one of his studies once commented that the research bar was like a Skinner box only rather than pressing the bar, one only needed to lean up against it.) He was extremely influential in characterizing the situational determinants of relapse and in re-engineering treatment approaches to focus on relapse prevention in addition to initial abstinence. In later years he was a major innovator in the development of a variety of "harm reduction" approaches to excessive substance use in populations as diverse as college students and homeless, chronic alcoholics. Always innovating, his adaptation of mindfulness techniques to address core aspects of dependence (e.g., "urge surfing") illustrates the range of cognitive approaches that Alan felt could be brought to bear on treating those with various addictions. Alan was a pioneer that opened up numerous new fruitful veins of research that inevitably proved productive for the many who followed.

Beyond his scientific contributions, he was an influential mentor to many, both to his own undergraduates, predocs, and postdocs as well as many others in the field at all stages of professional development.His fingerprints are visible on many of us who have devoted our careers to the psychological study of addictive behaviors. He was an extraordinarily generous man who would also take the time to honor the numerous requests for his counsel from students world-wide and the general public and would always take the time to lend an ear to a colleague in need. It is difficult to think of any colleague who has shaped the field both intellectually and socially to the extent that Alan has and his absence from our professional and personal lives will be keenly felt.

Kenneth J. Sher, Ph.D.
Curators' Distinguished Professor of Psychological Sciences
University of Missouri
200 South Seventh Street
Columbia, MO 65211
email: sherk@missouri.edu
Web: http://web.missouri.edu/~sherk

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