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- Title
Can patients with alcohol use disorders return to social drinking? Yes, so what should we do about it?
- Authors
Hodgins, David
- Abstract
The article discusses whether people with alcohol use disorders can learn to moderate their alcohol use. On one side of the debate are advocates of the disease, or 12-step, model of alcohol problems, who argue that individuals suffering from the disease will inevitably lose control of their use if exposed to any amount of alcohol. According to this model, abstinence is the only way to arrest the disease's development. Other clinicians focus on the benefits of adopting a harm-reduction orientation toward alcohol problems. This approach focuses less on the amount of alcohol consumed and more on helping individuals decrease the harms related to alcohol use. Several lines of evidence point to the validity of nonabstinence treatment goals for some people with alcohol use problems. First, as early as the 1940s, follow-up studies of individuals suffering from alcoholism have revealed that a proportion of patients, albeit a small group, describe successful and sustained nonabstinence outcomes.
- Subjects
ALCOHOLISM treatment; PEOPLE with alcoholism; ALCOHOL drinking; SUBSTANCE abuse; ALCOHOLISM; HEALTH education
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 2005, Vol 50, Issue 5, p264
- ISSN
0706-7437
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1177/070674370505000505