Alcohol Abuse Treatment

A major national goal is to improve the health of the populace while advancing our opportunities to pursue happiness. Simulta­ neously, there are both increasing health costs and increasing demands that more be accomplished with less financial support. The number of deaths attributable to the consumption of alcohol in the US is about 100,000 per year, and the annual cost of this addiction is over $100 billion. Improved treatment methods can both reduce these costs and improve health by preventing the continued exposure of abusers to the toxic effects of alcohol. This third volume of Drug and Alcohol Abuse Reviews focuses on the strategies currently thought best for the treatment of alcohol and tobacco abuse. A variety of approaches to treating alcohol abuse employ those psychosocial factors that are known to influence alcohol use in youth and adults. Pharmacotherapy has also been evaluated at the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism by leaders in alcohol treatment research. One key review investigates forming a developmental framework for the treatment of adolescent alcohol abusers, a major challenge. Although the main emphasis is on the treatment of alcoholism, a major cofactor for many drug users is nicotine (tobacco) addiction, whose treatment is also reviewed. And the roles of learning and outpatient services are shown to affect treatment significantly. Thus, the problems confronted and solutions used in alcohol abuse treatment have here been analyzed in concise reviews that provide evidence for today’s best hypoth­ eses and conclusions.