Sober living

Reduced Drinking in Alcohol Dependence Treatment, What Is the Evidence? European Addiction Research

Relapse Prevention (RP) is another well-studied model used in both AUD and DUD treatment (Marlatt & Gordon, 1985). In its original form, RP aims to reduce risk of relapse by teaching participants cognitive and behavioral skills for coping in high-risk situations (Marlatt & Gordon, 1985). More recent versions of RP have included mindfulness-based techniques (Bowen, Chawla, & Marlatt, 2010; Witkiewitz et al., 2014).

controlled drinking vs abstinence

Indeed, a prominent harm reduction psychotherapist and researcher, Rothschild, argues that the harm reduction approach represents a “third wave of addiction treatment” which follows, and is replacing, the moral and disease models (Rothschild, 2015a). Lack of consensus around target outcomes also presents a challenge to evaluating the effectiveness of nonabstinence treatment. Experts generally recommend that SUD treatment studies report substance use as well as related consequences, and select primary outcomes based on the study sample and goals (Donovan et al., Abstinence violation effect Definition of Abstinence violation effect 2012; Kiluk et al., 2019). While AUD treatment studies commonly rely on guidelines set by government agencies regarding a “low-risk” or “nonhazardous” level of alcohol consumption (e.g., Enggasser et al., 2015), no such guidelines exist for illicit drug use. Thus, studies will need to emphasize measures of substance-related problems in addition to reporting the degree of substance use (e.g., frequency, quantity). The current review highlights a notable gap in research empirically evaluating the effectiveness of nonabstinence approaches for DUD treatment.

Models of nonabstinence psychosocial treatment for SUD

About 10% of individuals who report cannabis use in the past year meet criteria for a cannabis use disorder, while this proportion increases to 18%, 19%, 58%, and 65% of those with past year use of cocaine, opioids (misuse), methamphetamine, and heroin, respectively. These data suggest that non-disordered drug use is possible, even for a substantial portion of individuals who use drugs such as heroin (about 45%). However, they do not elucidate patterns of non-disordered use over time, nor the likelihood of maintaining drug use without developing a DUD. Questions on main drug and other problematic drug use were followed by the interviewer giving a brief summary of how the interview person (IP) had described their change process five years earlier.

Of these, 40 were reinterviewed (71 per cent), usually over the telephone (34/40). The majority of those not interviewed were impossible to reach via the contact information available (the five-year-old telephone number did not work, and no number was found in internet searches). If you https://g-markets.net/sober-living/100-most-inspiring-addiction-recovery-quotes/ are struggling with some of the following signs above, be sure to contact your physician or seek help at a substance abuse treatment facility. The majority of programs are web-based and rely heavily on motivating people to take responsibility for creating change in their own lives.

Why Moderation May Be a Better Choice Than Abstinence

Administrative discharge due to substance use is not a necessary practice even within abstinence-focused treatment (Futterman, Lorente, & Silverman, 2004), and is likely linked to the assumption that continued use indicates lack of readiness for treatment, and that abstinence is the sole marker of treatment success. In parallel with the view on abstinence as a core criterion for recovery, controlled drinking (CD) has been a recurring concept and in focus from time to time in research on alcohol problems for more than https://accountingcoaching.online/how-long-can-you-live-with-cirrhosis/ half a century (Davies, 1962; Roizen, 1987; Saladin and Santa Ana, 2004). It caused heated debates, and for a long time, it has had a rather limited impact on professional treatment systems (Coldwell and Heather, 2006). Recently, in many European countries (Klingemann and Rosenberg, 2009; Klingemann, 2016; Davis et al., 2017) and in the USA (Coldwell, 2005; Davis and Rosenberg, 2013), professionals working with clients with severe problems and clients in inpatient care tend to have abstinence as a treatment goal .

controlled drinking vs abstinence