Alcoholism: Success of Long–Term Treatment - a Systematic Review

Abstract

Introduction. Alcohol consumption represents a public health problem whose treatment is complex, multidimensional and long-term with possible recurrence. Treatment is aimed at achieving long-term abstinence.Aim. The purpose of this paper is to use a systematic review in order to determine which of the methods of alcoholism treatment has long-term effects on permanent and complete abstinence of an individual. The aim of the systematic review is an analysis of published data and achievements in this area. Methods.A systematic review of literature that evaluates the success of long-term treatment of alcoholism was conducted using the Medline databases. The keywords used as search terms were: alcoholism, treatment success, long-term abstinence.Results. Six studies in total were taken into consideration due to the availability of a full text article and years of publication between 2000 and 2017. Treatment of alcoholism includes some of the following interventions: complete abstinence from alcohol, pharmacotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, selfhelp group attendance, family therapy, individual interventions, combined behavioral interventions and telephone-based interventions. Results have shown that the following interventions had an impact on the increment of abstinence rates: aftercare telephone monitoring, regular medical checkups, participation in self-help groups, pharmacotherapy, attendance of the Outpatient Long-term Intensive Therapy for Al-