{"id":5599,"date":"2016-10-27T17:38:34","date_gmt":"2016-10-27T23:38:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/?p=5599"},"modified":"2021-08-26T11:48:32","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T17:48:32","slug":"moderate-drinking-harder-abstinence-problem-drinkers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/moderate-drinking-harder-abstinence-problem-drinkers\/","title":{"rendered":"Moderate Drinking Harder than Abstinence for Problem&#160;Drinkers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A new study suggests that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedaily.com\/releases\/2016\/09\/160914090314.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">people struggling with alcohol misuse<\/a> have more success at going completely dry versus controlling their&#160;drinking.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers in Sweden set out to test a theory that the most important factor in recovery is for a patient and treatment provider to have a shared recovery goal: either abstinence or moderate&#160;drinking.<\/p>\n<p>However, the researchers actually found that even when patients and providers were working toward the same recovery outcome, those who stopped drinking altogether were far more successful than those who wanted to curb their&#160;consumption.<\/p>\n<p>The study looked at outcomes 2.5 years after patients started treatment. Around 90% of abstainers were still sober, while only 50% of those who sought to become moderate drinkers were still successfully controlling their alcohol consumption. The results were published in the most recent edition of <em>Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.&#160;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The study speaks to different approaches for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.niaaa.nih.gov\/alcohol-health\/overview-alcohol-consumption\/alcohol-use-disorders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">treating alcohol misuse disorders<\/a>. Many treatment professionals and prominent self-help organizations, like Alcoholics Anonymous, advocate complete abstinence from alcohol. However, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/archive\/2015\/04\/the-irrationality-of-alcoholics-anonymous\/386255\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a smaller group of treatment providers<\/a> suggest that individuals with alcohol problems can learn to drink in moderation. The latter view also seems to be more prevalent outside the&#160;U.S.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/programs\/drunk-driving\/target-25-programs\/target-25-get-them-early-get-them-sober\/?utm_source=sobering%20up&amp;utm_medium=banner&amp;utm_campaign=target%2025%20webinar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/target-25-webinar.gif\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new study suggests that people struggling with alcohol misuse have more success at going completely dry versus controlling their&#160;drinking. Researchers in Sweden set out to test a theory that the most important factor in recovery is for a patient and treatment provider to have a shared recovery goal: either abstinence or moderate&#160;drinking. However, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[49,50,60,63,72,78,86],"class_list":["post-5599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alcohol-addiction","tag-alcohol-abuse","tag-alcohol-addiction-2","tag-alcohol-dependence","tag-alcohol-facts","tag-alcohol-research","tag-alcohol-treatment","tag-alcoholism"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Moderate Drinking Harder than Abstinence for Problem Drinkers | Sobering Up<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A new study suggests that people struggling with alcohol misuse have more success at going completely dry versus controlling their drinking.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/moderate-drinking-harder-abstinence-problem-drinkers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Moderate Drinking Harder than Abstinence for Problem Drinkers | Sobering Up\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new study suggests that people struggling with alcohol misuse have more success at going completely dry versus controlling their drinking.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/moderate-drinking-harder-abstinence-problem-drinkers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sobering Up\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SCRAMx\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-27T23:38:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-26T17:48:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/empty-glass-and-bottle.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1170\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sobering Up Administrator\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@scramsystems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@scramsystems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sobering Up Administrator\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/moderate-drinking-harder-abstinence-problem-drinkers\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/moderate-drinking-harder-abstinence-problem-drinkers\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sobering Up Administrator\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d81eb856e7b30e26591614b66cb58512\"},\"headline\":\"Moderate Drinking Harder than Abstinence for Problem&#160;Drinkers\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-27T23:38:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-26T17:48:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/moderate-drinking-harder-abstinence-problem-drinkers\/\"},\"wordCount\":205,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2016\/10\/moderate-drinking-harder-abstinence-problem-drinkers\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/target-25-webinar.gif\",\"keywords\":[\"alcohol abuse\",\"alcohol addiction\",\"alcohol dependence\",\"alcohol facts\",\"alcohol research\",\"Alcohol Treatment\",\"alcoholism\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Alcohol Misuse &amp; 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