Do Problem Drinkers Stop Drinking?

The evidence that alcoholism is a relapsing disorder is derived from studies of patients seeking treatment. To determine what happens in a nonclinical sample, investigators screened 13,394 adults from the general population and conducted extensive interviews with the 672 respondents with problem drinking (i.e., meeting ≥2 criteria: ≥1 alcohol-related social consequence; ≥1 symptoms of alcohol dependence; ≥5 drinks in 1 day at least monthly for men or ≥3 drinks in 1 day/week for women). The group (mean age, 35) was re-interviewed 1 year later and then biennially for 11 years (response rate in year 11, 81%).

Drinking decreased over time (year 1: men, –28%; women, –40%; year 11: men, –23%; women, –17%), but alcohol consumption remained 160 0ghe…