Specialized Counseling Approach Does Not Help with Drinking Problems

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A commonly-used counseling technique for people with substance abuse issues “may be of limited benefit” to youth, according to a systematic review published in The Cochrane Library. “Researchers found that an approach known as motivational interviewing did not substantially reduce drinking or alter alcohol-related behaviour,” stated a press release about the study.

The researchers reviewed evidence from 66 trials of motivational interviewing involving a total of 17,901 young people aged 25 and under. Many of the studies involved youth at high risk for alcohol-related problems, and youth attended either one individual counseling session, group sessions, or a mixture of group and individual sessions.

Four months later, “on average participants who had counselling had about 1 and a half fewer drinks per week compared to those who had no counselling. (12.2 drinks compared with 13.7),” stated the press release. “The effect of counselling on the number of drinking days was also very small: 2.57 days per week compared to 2.74 in untreated people.”

“The results suggest that for young people who misuse alcohol there is no substantial, meaningful benefit of motivational interviewing,” said lead researcher David Foxcroft of Oxford Brookes University in the press release. “The effects we saw were probably too small to be of relevance to policy or practice.”

Counselling has limited benefit on young people drinking alcohol (Oxford Brookes University Press Release on Wiley, August 20, 2014)

Motivational interviewing for alcohol misuse in young adults (The Cochrane Library (Foxcroft, David R et al. Published Online August 21, 2014. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD007025.pub2)

10 COMMENTS

  1. You couldn’t tell me to stop when I was that age. Total abstinence ? Ya right , never drink again.

    This is a tough one , maybe they could teach them stay out of trouble or moderation strategies for drinking until it kicks there butt enough physically and mentally and they want to quit ?

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    • Or maybe just give them something to do? I feel like many people drink since they have few perspectives in their lives other than mundane go to work bring just enough money to survive and go for a drink to get wasted until the next day.

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        • It was the same in communist Poland – the state sponsored “culture houses” where youth could come and do something fun and productive. The good capitalists closed them down and you have the same youth sitting in parks and on street corners drinking.

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    • Getting rid of poverty, especially in kids and teenagers is also a good way. In the communist times in Poland there were state sponsored “culture houses” where youth could go and play sports, games, make art etc. You hardly saw kids drinking on the streets. In the good capitalist times they all got closed down save for few and you see the same youth standing on street corners with bottles full of alcohol.

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      • also, that alcohol industry influences alcohol policy and tries to make it as available as possible as cheaply as possible. All of this is counter to what the evidence on good health shows, not to mention social policy as heavy drinking is associated with violence, crime and suicide.

        Comparisons to the psych drug industry come to mind….

        Logic on deregualted capitalism init?

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