Goal Choice of Alcoholics: Effects of Training Controlled Drinking Skills

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Abstract
Alcohol treatment outcome studies during the past twenty years have consistently reported that some alcoholics treated via abstinence orientated approaches obtain controlled responsible drinking (Selzer & Holloway, 1957; Bailey & Stewart, 1967; Davies, 1962). Moreover, recent outcome research suggests that controlled drink training may be an effective treatment at least for some abusive drinkers (e.g., Armour, Polich & Stambul, 1976; Caddy, Addington & Perkins, 1978; Sobell & Sobell, 1973;Vogler, Compton & Weissbach, 1975). Controlled drinking as a viable treatment goal for alcoholics, however, remains an area of continued controversy which appears to involve three major issues: (a) Do controlled drinking goals increase the probability of abusive drinking dispositions (Blume, 1977); (b) Are there unique characteristics of those alcoholics choosing controlled drinking goals (Bell, 1963; Lloyd & Salzberg, 1975; Miller & Caddy, 1977; Nathan, 1976); and, (c) Will controlled drink training encourage alcoholics to “try their luck” at other-than-abstinence goals (i.e., will it induce, “… despondent alcoholics to rationalize that the therapeutic goal of reducing excessive drinking to socially acceptable dimensions may be more easily attainable than complete abstinence” (Thimann, 1963, p.325)?

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