Many people with alcohol dependence are able to recover completely, sometimes without formal treatment. Some may even be able to drink occasionally without relapsing, new study findings show.

“Evidence that low-risk drinking represents a recovery option for some individuals may prompt attempts to cut down on drinking among persons not ready to consider abstinence,” study author Dr. Deborah A. Dawson, of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism told AMN Health.

“Cutting down can be good if it prevents or reduces harm.”

Yet, the new findings do not imply that people with alcohol dependence need not seek treatment. “Even if some of these individuals might ultimately recover without treatment, treatment may speed their recovery,” Dawson said.

Using data from the 2001- 2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, Dawson and her team analyzed survey responses from 4,422 adults with clinically identified alcohol dependence that began more than a year prior to the survey.

Only 26 percent of these adults had ever received treatment for their alcohol dependence. Still, nearly 36 percent of the study group were in full remission, meaning they either had not consumed any alcohol during the past year or had consumed alcohol but had no symptoms of abuse or dependence, the researchers report in the research journal Addiction.

An additional 12 percent could be classified as being in full remission, but they had drinking patterns that put them at risk of relapse. This included men who drank five or more drinks a day at least once in the past year, or women who drank an average of more than seven drinks per week.

Twenty-five percent of the study sample remained alcohol dependent and 27 percent were classified as being in partial remission. The latter were not technically dependent on alcohol, but had one or more symptoms of abuse or dependence, the researchers note.

Married adults were more likely to achieve either abstinence or non-abstinent recovery - that is, drinking with no symptoms of alcohol abuse or dependence - than were single adults.

The likelihood of abstinent recovery also increased with age, and was more common among women than among men.

In considering the long-term difference between those who choose to cut down on alcohol drinking and those who choose abstinence as a means of recovery, Dawson said, “We do not yet know from research which formerly alcohol-dependent persons are most likely to recover and which to fail.”

Anyone who may be alcohol dependent “is best advised to consult a health care professional,” she added.

Commenting on Dawson’s findings, Dr. Mark Willenbring, head of the NIAAA’s Division of Treatment and Recovery Research said, “This study merely points out something that we already suspected: that a significant portion of people with milder forms of the illness may be able to fully recover and even drink in a non-problem way.”

“The safest thing for anyone to do is to examine their use, and to use (alcohol) within the recommended guidelines - or to abstain if they are unable to remain in the limits,” he told Reuters Health

SOURCE: Addiction, November 2004.