[Behavioral therapeutic methods in ambulatory treatment of alcoholism. Early results of an experimental study]

Outpatient alcoholism treatment programs are widespread especially in the United States and in Great Britain. However, there still exist only a few experimental studies investigating the numerous questions arising from this field. In this still ongoing project 120 patients were randomly assigned to 3 different outpatient group therapy programs: unspecific supportive therapy and 2 forms of behavioural therapy--coping skills training [17] and cognitive therapy according to Beck [2]. The main hypotheses to be tested are that both forms of behavioural therapy will prove superior to supportive treatment and that patients with a comorbidity of personality disorders will profit in a different way from these differentiated intervention strategies. Treatment lasted 6 months; first results obtained after the termination of this period demonstrate the feasibility of the study design; patients undergoing behavioural therapy showed good compliance with few drop-outs and significantly higher rates of abstinence compared with supportive therapy. 60% of the patients suffer from a concomitant personality disorder (mostly of the dependent, insecure, and masochistic type). Nevertheless, statistically significant differences between the 2 behavioural therapy techniques could not be established; a positive correlation between personality disorders and relapse or attrition could be confirmed only for relapses occurring within the first 3 months of treatment.