[Dependency outcome of alcohol-dependent patients after inpatient detoxification and motivation treatment]

In addition to psychiatric outpatient treatment, the detoxification of alcoholics in psychiatric hospitals is an important link between medical detoxification and psychosocial inpatient treatment aiming at abstinence. Integrated models of inpatient detoxification and motivation therapy focus on improvement of the motivation of patients towards further treatment of their alcoholism and towards abstinence. In our study 529 alcoholics underwent such treatment lasting between 2 to 3 weeks. A total of 469 patients (89%) were followed up after 8 months; 242 alcoholics (52% of the follow-up sample; 46% of the whole sample) achieved the treatment goal and started further treatment, mainly as inpatients. Fifty-four of these patients relapsed before they started further alcoholism treatment, but achieved abstinence afterwards; 60 (25%) of these 242 patients relapsed after the specific alcoholism therapy; 227 alcoholics did not start further treatment after the initial detoxification and motivation therapy. In this subpopulation, 113 (50%) relapsed during the follow-up period. Although this is not a controlled study, it can be concluded that integrated inpatient detoxification and motivation therapy has positive effects on the treatment behavior of alcoholic patients and enhances the probability of further abstinence.