Additional Information
Controlling Your Drinking: A Practical, Proven Approach
by David J. Hanson, Ph.D.
Controlling Your Drinking: Tools to Make Moderation Work for You is a practical guide for drinkers who want to reduce their consumption and drink in moderation.
Research by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and others has repeatedly demonstrated that many people, including those diagnosed as alcoholic, can learn to moderate their drinking.
Using behavioral self-control training, the book provides specific, proven alternatives to the prevalent all or nothing approach. The authors report that at least 32 controlled clinical trials have evaluated behavioral self-control training, which is more than for any other single approach for the treatment of alcohol problems.
The findings of these research studies are consistent and can be summarized in four points:
- People who seek help (including self-help books) to moderate their drinking are generally experiencing significant problems because of their drinking, but are not as seriously dependent on alcohol as are those who enter abstinence-focused treatment programs.
- Those drinkers who receive behavioral self-control training generally reduce their alcohol use - by amounts averaging 50-70% - and significantly reduce their risk of alcohol-related health and social problems.
- Drinkers using a self-help guide, on their own, to learn behavioral self-control tend to be as successful in reducing their drinking as those receiving outpatient behavioral self-control training from professional counselors.
- Those who are most successful in maintaining moderate and problem-free drinking tend to be those with less severe problems and alcohol dependence. 1
Controlling Your Drinking empowers drinkers to take charge of their drinking patterns. It guides them in setting realistic goals, establishing limits, and maintaining control.
Of course, no single book or approach will work for everyone. If one technique, such as that detailed in Controlling Your Drinking doesn’t work, try another. Other self-help resources promoting moderation include:
- Amit, Z., Sutherland, E.A., & Weiner, A. Guide to Intelligent Drinking. NY: Walker & Co., 1977.
- Dimeff, L.A., Baer, J.S., Kivlahan, D.R., & Marlatt, G.A. Brief Alcohol Screening and Intervention for College Students (BASICS): A Harm Reduction Approach. NY: Guilford Press, 1999.
- Heather, N., Richmond, r., Webster, I., Wodak, A., Hardie, M., & Polkinghorne, H. A Guide to Healthier Drinking: A Self-Help Manual. Sydney, Australia: Clarendon, 1989.
- Kishline, A. Moderate Drinking: The Moderation Management Guide for People who want to Reduce their Drinking. NY: Crown Trade, 1995.
- Miller, P.M. Personal Habit Control. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1978.
- Robbins, J., & Fisher, D. Stopping Excessive Drinking. In How to Break Habits. NY: Wyden, 1973.
- Robertson, I., & Heather, N. So You Want to Cut Down on Your drinking? Edinburg, Scotland: Health Education Board for Scotland, 1999.
- Rotgers, F., et al. Responsible Drinking: A Moderation Management Approach for Problem Drinkers. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger, 2002.
- Sanchez-Craig, M. DrinkWise: How to Quit Drinking or Cut Down. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Addiction Research Foundation, 1993.
- Vogler, R.E., & Bartz, W.R. The Better Way to Drink. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1982.
- Williams, R.L., & Long, J.D. All things in Moderation: Controlled Drinking. In Toward a Self-Managed Life Style. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979, 2nd. ed.).
- Winters, A. Drinkwatchers. Haverstraw, NY: Gullistan Press, 1977.
Note: This web site doesn't provide medical or therapeutic advice and it doesn't receive any benefit from the sale of Controlling Your Drinking.
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