Study Shows Abusers Rarely Return to Social Drinking

A study of alcohol use conducted by a Harvard researcher shows that abusers rarely return to using alcohol in a controlled manner.

The study, written by Professor of Psychiatry George E. Vaillant of the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital, also shows that abusers who have stayed off alcohol for five years will likely not relapse.

The longitudal study was conducted on 268 male Harvard sophomores and 456 male inner city adolescents whom it followed for 55 years.

Results found that the two "socially divergent samples resembled each other," Vaillant said.

The inner city youth began to abuse alcohol when they were younger and were more likely to become alcohol dependent.

However, the inner city youth were also more likely than the Harvard students to recover faster and were twice as likely as the Harvard students to achieve stable abstinence.

Of the Harvard students who were problem drinkers in college, 59 percent were still abusing alcohol by age 60. Of the inner city youths, only 28 percent were still abusing alcohol at age 60.

However, at age 70, only 32 percent of the surviving Harvard students were still abusing alcohol.

Thus, Vaillant attributes the decline in abuse to two factors: stable abstinence and high mortality.

The study also found that alcohol recovery is comparable to cancer recovery in that remission must often last for five years before relapse is considered unlikely.

Of those with drinking problems who stopped drinking for at least two years, 40 percent relapsed and went back to abusing alcohol.

But of the 35 people who were able to stop drinking for five years, only three relapsed.

The study also showed that a return to social drinking is nearly impossible for those who used to abuse alcohol.

Of the problem drinkers who quit, roughly 25 tried to return to social drinking but only five were able to remain social drinkers.

"Return to controlled drinking without eventual relapse was unlikely," Vaillant said. "Alcohol abuse could continue for decades without remission or progression of symptoms."

Vaillant's study and article were published in the March 1996 issue of the American Medical Association's Archives of General Psychiatry.

Vaillant has elaborated on the study by discussing predictors of recovery and other long-term studies of alcohol abuse in a recently published book, The Natural History of Alcoholism Revisited.