Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-sjtt6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-06T04:48:06.307Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The controlled drinking controversy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

John Tobin ,
William Delaney  and
Harry Doyle
John Tobin
Affiliation:
Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dublin 14
William Delaney
Affiliation:
Royal College of Surgeons, and A/Clinical Director, Vergemount Psychiatric Clinic, Dublin 4
Harry Doyle
Affiliation:
United Medical and Dental School of Guys and St. Thomas's Hospitals
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective: of the review was to explore the three major controversies over the controlled drinking debate, and to assess for whom controlled drinking may be a viable form of treatment of alcohol dependence. Method: was to survey the literature of the last twenty years, using the Medline data base, the Index Medicus, and the Excerpta Medica. Findings: were that controversies involving the work of the Sobells and the Rand reports were influenced by the social attitudes of the time, and that D.L. Davies work despite being methodologically unsound, made the consideration of having a controlled drinking goal a viable treatment option. We also found that comparing studies using different definitions of controlled/normal drinking is difficult, but it would appear that the young, married, less severely dependent, and possibly female drinker may benefit from this form of treatment. The return of a patient to controlled drinking is not always dependent on the treatment model they have undergone. Conclusions: are that controlled drinking should be considered as a serious option, and that the recommended safe alcohol intake, will differ between patients, and that flexibility will be required. Also that a source of ongoing collateral information about the patient is essential.

Keywords

Intolerant timesNormal drinkingAbstinence programsRand reportsMethodological problemsUncomparable definitionsCollateral historyPatients beliefs
Type
Review Articles
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , June 1993 , pp. 121 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Rush, B. (1785). An inquiry into the effects of ardent spirits upon the human body and mind. Reproduced in: J Stud Alcohol 1943; 4: 321–41.Google Scholar
2.Alcoholics Anonymous: the story of how many thousands of men and women have recovered from alcoholism. 2nd ed. New York: Alcoholics Anonymous, 1955.Google Scholar
3.Davies, DL. Normal drinking in recovered alcohol addicts. J Stud Alcohol 1962; 23: 94–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4.Edwards, G. A later follow-up of a classic case series: D.L. Davies 1962 report and its significance for the present. J Stud Alcohol 1985; 46 (3): 181–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5.Sobell, LC, Sobell, MB. The myth of one drink. Behav Res Ther 1972; 10: 119–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6.Jellinek, EM. The disease concept of alcoholism. New York: Hillhouse Press, 1960.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Pendery, EM. Controlled drinking by alcoholics, new findings and re-evaluation of a major affirmative study. Dependence 1982: 217: 169–75.Google Scholar
8.Armor, DJ, Polich, JM, Stambul, HB. Alcoholism and treatment, Santa Monica: The Rand Corporation, 1976.Google Scholar
9.Polich, JM, Armor, DJ, Braiker, HB. The course of alcoholism: four years after treatment, prepared for the NIAAA. Santa Monica: The Rand Corporation, 1980.Google Scholar
10.Mills, KC, Sobell, MB, Schaefer, HH. Training social drinking as an alternative to abstinence for alcoholics. Behaviour Therapy 1971; 2: 18–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Orford, J. A comparison of alcoholics whose drinking is totally uncontrolled and those whose drinking is mainly controlled. Behav Res Ther 1973: 11: 565–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
12.Shea, JE. Psychoanalytic therapy and alcoholism. Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcoholism (currently J Stud Alcohol) 1954; 15: 595–605.Google ScholarPubMed
13.Stockwell, T. Cracking an old chestnut: is controlled drinking possible for the person who has been severely alcohol dependent? Br J Addict 1986; 81: 455–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14.Arroyave, F, McKeown, S. Controlled drinking, a perspective. Br J Hosp Med 1979; 22: 604–60.Google ScholarPubMed
15.Millar, WR. Controlled drinking, a history and a critical review. J Stud Alcohol 1983; 44: 68–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16.Edwards, G, Duckitt, A, Oppenheimer, E. What happens to alcoholics. Lancet 1983; 30: 269–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17.Orford, J, Keddie, A. Abstinence or controlled drinking in clinical practice: indications at initial assessment. Addict Behav 1986; 11: 71–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18.Finny, JW, Moos, EH. Characteristics and prognosis of alcoholics who become moderate drinkers and abstainers after treatment. J Stud Alcohol 1981; 42: 94–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19.Millar, WR, Joyce, MA. Prediction abstinence, controlled drinking, and heavey drinking outcomes following behavioural self control training. J Consult Clin Psychol 1979; 47: 773–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Smart, RG. Characteristics of alcoholics who drink socially after treatment. Alcohol Clin Exp Res 1978; 2: 49–52.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
21.Vogler, RE. Learning techniques for alcohol abuse. Behav Res Ther 1977; 15: 31–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22.Popham, RE, Schmidt, W. Some factors affecting the likelihood of moderate drinking by treated alcoholics. J Stud Alcohol 1976; 37: 868–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23.Heather, N, Robinson, I. Controlled drinking. 2nd ed. London: Methuen, 1983.Google Scholar
24.Hyman, HH. Alcoholics fifteen years later. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1976; 273: 613–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25.Levinson, T. Controlled drinking in the alcoholic: a search for common features. In: Madden, , Walker, , Kenyon, , editors. Alcoholism and drug dependence. London: Plenum, 1977.Google Scholar
26.Ogbourne, A. A note on the characteristics of alcohol abusers with controlled drinking asperations. Drug Alcohol Depend 1987; 19: 159–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
27.Sanchez-Craig, M. Random assignment to abstinence and controlled drinking: evaluation of a cognitive behavioural programme for problem drinkers. J Consult Clin Psychol 1984; 52: 395–403.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
28.Sanchez-Craig, M. Disadvantages of imposing the goal of abstinence on problem drinkers an empirical study. Br J Addict 1986; 81: 505–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
29.Vaillant, GE. Prospective study of alcoholism treatment, eight year follow up. Am J Med 1983; 75: 455–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
30.Pokorney, AD, Millar, BA, Cleveland, SE. Response to treatment of alcoholism. Quarterly Journal of Studies of Alcoholism (currently J Stud Alcohol) 1968; 29: 364–81.Google Scholar
31.Schuckitt, MA, Winokur, GA. A short term follow up of women alcoholics. Diseases of the Nervous System 1972; 33: 672–8.Google Scholar
32.Pattison, EM. A conceptual approach to alcoholism treatment goals. Addict Behav 1976; 1: 1977–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
33.McCabe, RJ. Alcohol-dependent invididuals sixteen years on. Alcohol Alcohol 1986; 21: 85–91.Google Scholar
34.Helzer, JE. The extent of long term moderate drinking among alcoholics discharged from medical and psychiatric treatment facilities. N Engl J Med 1985; 312: 1678–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
35.Elal-Laurence, G. Treatment and follow up variables, discriminating abstainers, controlled drinkers, and relapsers. J Stud Alcohol 1987; 48: 39–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar