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May 2, 2006

Study: Outpatient treatment of alcoholism can succeed

PROVIDENCE -- Doctors and nurses can successfully treat alcoholism on an outpatient basis with the use of regular monitoring and medication -- reducing the need for costlier, more intensive programs -- a major study concludes in an article that will be published tomorrow in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

"The huge implication is that instead of folks having to go to 'specialty people' to get treatment for their alcohol addiction they can get it right in the primary care setting, with much less fanfare,'' said Richard H. Longabaugh, professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown Medical School in Providence.

Longabaugh, who has spent much of his career studying alcoholism, is one of the authors of the study, which involved nearly 1,400 patients at 11 academic centers across the country. In conjunction with Roger Williams Medical Center, Brown enrolled 133 patients, making it the largest group in the clinical trial, which was conducted from 2001 to 2004.

"One of the problems with alcoholism is there is a big mismatch between the number of people afflicted and the number in treatment. This extends the options. Really, people can get treatment in their doctor's office,'' said co-author Dr. Robert M. Swift, psychiatry professor and associate director of Brown's Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies.

-- Journal staff writer G. Wayne Miller

Posted by Andrea Panciera  at 4:09 PM | Permalink

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