"good clinical outcomes" with moderation

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reinhard
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"good clinical outcomes" with moderation

Post by reinhard » Tue May 09, 2006 2:14 pm

Finally, some evidence that moderation and thinking in terms of habit is coming back. It's mostly directly relevant to glass ceiling, but is applicable to our other bad habits as well.

I think you need to be a subscriber to see the full article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/07/weeki ... carey.html

Here are some quotes:
A government-financed study of alcoholism released last week, the largest to date, suggests how deeply [the] "moderate use" idea has taken hold. The study found that the treatment produced "good clinical outcomes" in about three-quarters of the almost 1,400 heavy, chronic drinkers in the study.
"The fact is that these moderate measures are becoming more and more accepted in judging treatments," said Dr. Edward Nunes, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University.
The very idea, common in abstinence-based programs, that one "slip" can lead to total loss of control may undermine their best efforts to self-regulate.
By treating the habit as just that — a habit — and not a disease,
therapists may be able to make progress in reducing the bad
consequences, whether a broken marriage or an embarrassing car
accident.
Though of course:
On the other hand, the risk to addicts of this approach is incontestably real, and no one knows in advance who can and cannot safely moderate their addictive behavior.

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