Giving ethanol to alcoholics in a research setting: its effect on compliance with disulfiram treatment

In order to evaluate the effect of experimental ethanol administration on disulfiram compliance, a 6-month follow-up study was conducted with inpatient alcoholics. Two groups of patients were studied. Though not randomly assigned, the groups were matched on a variety of demographic and alcoholic-related variables. One group (N = 15) received ethanol in a laboratory-based study while the other group (N = 21) underwent treatment as usual. Days of disulfiram use did not differ between groups at follow-up. Studies concerning compliance with disulfiram support the validity of this measure as an indicator of treatment outcome. Our findings are consistent with other studies of the effect of experimental administration of ethanol to alcoholics, in that there were no immediate adverse effects and treatment outcome did not appear to suffer as a consequence of ethanol exposure.