[Inpatient care in the treatment of alcohol use disorders]

Inpatient treatment has long been considered the reference in the treatment of alcoholism. It may indeed have many conceptual advantages, but practically it is a method of treatment with high costs and long waiting period. Moreover, reviews of studies evaluating effectiveness of treatment settings for alcohol dependence suggest that no significant differences exist between inpatient and outpatient programs. Therefore, it seems useful to determine indications of inpatient detoxification programs. As we may see, the choice of inpatient detox should be primarily guided by the contra-indications of outpatient detox. However, it also depends very much on patients' preference, essential to success, since they are the lead actors. Some other situations require urgent residential care, regardless of readiness to change or type of alcohol disorder underlying.