Controlled drinking by alcoholics? New findings and a reevaluation of a major affirmative study.

Controlled drinking has recently become a controversial alternative to abstinence as an appropriate treatment goal for alcoholics. In this study we reexamine the evidence underlying a widely cited report by Sobell and Sobell of successful controlled drinking by a substantial proportion of gamma (physically dependent) alcoholic subjects in a behavior therapy experiment. A review of the evidence, including official records and new interviews, reveals that most subjects trained to do controlled drinking failed from the outset to drink safely.