The role of counseling

In the US, counseling has historically been the main focus of alcohol treatment. Depending on personal preferences and available resources, counseling may take several forms.

Individual or group sessions

Some patients have achieved success with counseling, commonly conducted by psychologists, social workers, or other professionals trained to help people with alcohol addiction. Therapeutic approaches include the process of teaching people who struggle with alcohol to identify situations and feelings that trigger the urge to drink, and helping them find new ways to cope that do not include alcohol use. Often, programs for family members are also available, as well as referrals to local services such as legal assistance, job training, childcare, and parenting classes.5

Self-help groups

Most treatment programs encourage their participants to attend self-help programs on a regular basis. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a well-established self-help group, with resources available around the world. Most self-help treatment approaches include AA or a similar 12-step program in addition to other types of activities.5

Combined approaches

While counseling and self-help can be effective on their own for many people, medicine is an emerging avenue of treatment used in conjunction with them.3

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) is part of the US government National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIAAA sponsors about 90% of the research on alcoholism in the US.5

According to the NIAAA: "All approved drugs have been shown to be effective adjuncts to the treatment of alcohol dependence. Thus, consider adding medication whenever you are treating someone with active alcohol dependence...."9

Scientists supported by NIAAA agree that medicine for the treatment of alcoholism works best in conjunction with counseling. One of the major directions of NIAAA-funded research concerns how results can be improved through combining medicine and counseling.5