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Moderated drinking could give you the space to address those issues you’ve been pushing aside. Joseph Nowinski, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist in independent practice as well as assistant professor at the Hazelden Betty Ford Graduate School of Addiction Studies. If you believe you or someone you love may be struggling with addiction, let us hear your story and help you determine a path to treatment. It is clear from looking at the research that if you want to increase your odds of success, abstinence is the way to go. And while neither path is easy, the abstinence road seems to offer less resistance.
Moderated Drinking May Empower You to Give Up Drinking Entirely
At the first interview all IPs were abstinent and had a positive view on the 12-step treatment, although a few described a cherry-picking attitude. As the IP had a successful outcome, six months after treatment, their possibilities for CD might be better than for persons with SUD in general. On the other hand, as the group expressed positive views on this specific treatment, they might question the sobriety goal in a lesser extent than other groups. Of the patients studied, 90% of total abstinence patients were still sober two and a half years after treatment. Only 50% of those who focused on controlled consumption succeeded in controlling their drinking. Alcohol had taken its toll—her job, friends, family, and health had all suffered—and she wanted it out of her life.
You don’t have to attend AA meetings and introduce yourself as an alcoholic, and you don’t have to answer questions at parties or social gatherings when people notice you aren’t drinking. Abstinence means giving up alcohol completely, and it’s the foundation of traditional treatment options like AA and most inpatient rehabs. But alcohol misuse is not a one-size-fits all problem, and neither is its solution. It is also worthwhile controlled drinking vs abstinence considering the chemical effect of alcohol addiction on the body and the way alcohol withdrawal affects it. The person that decides to drink socially or now and then, is going to be consistently re-introducing that substance to the body, therefore always leaving the body craving more. Those who choose abstinence will completely avoid all alcohol, including that in food or in hygiene products such as mouthwash.
Does Controlled Drinking Work for Alcoholics?
In other studies of private treatment, Walsh et al. (1991) found that only 23 percent of alcohol-abusing workers reported abstaining throughout a 2-year follow-up, although the figure was 37 percent for those assigned to a hospital program. According to Finney and Moos (1991), 37 percent of patients reported they were abstinent at all follow-up years 4 through 10 after treatment. Clearly, most research agrees that most alcoholism patients drink at some point following treatment. At The Recover, we understand how dealing with an alcohol addiction is not an easy task for anyone. While some may believe that they can overcome addiction alone, there are a variety of alcohol programs out there with a wide range of treatments.