Brief Alcohol Intervention

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The Value and Relevance of Brief Alcohol Intervention

Quite a few people who engage in excessive and hazardous drinking receive alcohol treatment from healthcare professionals and interventionists such as counselors, therapists, psychologists, or physicians that consists of five or fewer office visits.

This type of alcohol therapy is known as "brief alcohol intervention" and usually includes matter-of-fact advice on ways in which the problem drinker can either drink in moderation and more responsibly or abstain from drinking altogether. During brief intervention sessions, which usually last an hour or shorter, therapists also give alcohol abusers basic information about alcohol-related community programs, agencies, and resources.

The Success of Brief Alcohol Interventions

According to the alcohol research literature, brief alcohol interventions not only decrease the amount of alcohol that the alcohol abuser ingests, but they also reduce the alcohol abuser's use of health care services and reduce the alcohol-related problems that are experienced by people who exhibit drinking problems.

Due to the fact that brief alcohol interventions were essentially developed to help problem drinkers who manifest less serious alcohol-related problems, alcohol dependent individuals, on the other hand, are encouraged to seek more traditional, longer-term, and more intensive types of alcoholism rehabilitation.

Although there are hundreds of alcohol screening tests that are currently available, including some that are more detailed and consists of dozens of questions, in recent years, shorter alcohol screening tests have been developed that address people with alcohol problems who go to primary healthcare settings and urgent care centers. This practice has been proven to be effective in reducing abusive drinking via brief alcohol interventions.

The Alcohol Screening Questionnaire

After a screening questionnaire has been administered and identified various drinking problems, the interventionist usually questions the drinker further in order to determine the severity of his or her alcohol abuse. The interventionist may then try brief intervention, may suggest that the person attend local Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, or may refer the drinker to an addiction specialist.

Extra Information

Finding a quality treatment program can be a difficult process.  This is why we are including the following information.

The following toll-free phone number is a number to a call center/treatment center that we are proudly affiliated with. This treatment facility provides top-quality and professional "holistic" drug and alcohol rehab and counseling that addresses virtually every aspect of the person's life.

There is someone at this phone number 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Please call this number if you have questions about a drug or alcohol problem or if you want some information about quality drug or alcohol treatment. (888) 565-2282

Help for Alcohol and Drug Problems

The following toll-free phone number is a number to a call center/treatment center that we are proudly affiliated with. This treatment facility provides top-quality and professional "holistic" drug and alcohol rehab and counseling that addresses virtually every aspect of the person's life.

There is someone at this phone number 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Please call this number if you have questions about a drug or alcohol problem or if you want some information about quality drug or alcohol treatment. (888) 565-2282

Alcohol Intervention and Treatment Informaiton and Other Alcohol-Related Quick Facts

Did you know...


  • Alcoholism treatment depends on whether you are physically dependent on alcohol. Most people with alcohol problems need to completely stop drinking. Treatment first focuses on relieving symptoms of withdrawal, and then the focus shifts to staying sober.

  • Since nothing can change what took place in the past, it is hoped that all of the state and federal prisoners who abused drugs and/or alcohol in the past have access to alcoholism and alcohol abuse programs as well as to substance abuse and addiction treatment while they are still in prison.

  • Researchers say it is not clear what mechanisms link early alcohol use to behavior problems later in life. It may be that alcohol disrupts the development of adequate social and academic skills that are needed to succeed later in life. Or early alcohol use may signal that an individual is predisposed to use drugs and develop other behavioral problems.

  • People in distress, whether it is from alcohol, drugs, depression, gambling or eating disorders usually display poor coping skills. These poor coping skills are often negatively impacting them and concerned people around them.

  • U.S. prison statistics reveal that approximately 50% of the state prisoners and 40% of federal prisoners who have been put into jail for committing violent crimes state that they were under the influence of drugs or alcohol (or both) when they committed their crimes.

  • People in distress, whether it is from alcohol, drugs, depression, gambling or eating disorders usually display poor coping skills. These poor coping skills are often negatively impacting them and concerned people around them.

  • Research has shown that alcoholism frequently remains undetected and concealed for years. One of the reasons for this is the ability of the alcoholic to deny his or her drinking problem and to hide his or her alcoholic behavior from others. Research also has demonstrated that the ways in which alcohol is used in a social sense and the availability and accessibility of alcohol both seem to be key components in the ways in which an individual is influenced to start drinking and to eventually become alcohol dependent.

  • In the United States, approximately 40% of adults will use an illegal drug at some time during their lives. This does not include the use of alcohol or prescription medications. Many people abuse more than one illegal substance at a time.

  • According to the DMV statistical archives, one out of every 130 licensed drivers in the United States has been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. One out of 130 doesn't sound like a significant number until you "do the math." If there are 130 million licensed drivers in the U.S., then one million of them have been arrested for "driving under the influence." Is there any wonder why so many alcohol and/or drug related traffic fatalities happen every year in this country?

  • According to the research literature, in the U.S., alcohol is linked with an estimated 5,000 deaths in people under age 21 each year. This is more deaths than from all the illegal drugs combined.

  • Alcoholism research reveals the following fact. The more an individual drinks, the more likely he or she will have an alcohol-related accident, and quite possibly, a fatal accident. The same sort of logic applies when discussing traffic accidents. That is, the more a person drinks, the more likely he or she will have an alcohol-related traffic accident, and quite possibly, a fatal traffic accident.

  • Drinking milk before drinking may help prevent a hangover to a limited extent, but the only 'cure' for a hangover is either drinking responsibly and in moderation or abstaining from drinking altogether.

  • Alcoholism research has shown that for drinkers who are interested in finding out if their drinking has crossed the line from abuse to alcoholism or alcohol addiction, there is a common-sense question that might provide the answer to this question. In a word, if an individual has to ask the above question, he or she probably has a serious drinking problem that more likely than not may be alcoholism. Typical drinkers usually don't wonder if their drinking is a problem. Indeed, they rarely, if ever, think about it.

  • Alcohol abuse and alcoholism research demonstrates the fact that if you consume alcoholic beverages, it's important to know whether your drinking patterns are safe, risky or harmful. Answering these questions will take only a few minutes, and will generate personalized results based on your age, gender and drinking patterns.

  • Both alcohol addiction and medical researchers have discovered that individuals who drink repeatedly and excessively for many years frequently develop serious alcohol-related problems such as peptic ulcers, depression, cirrhosis of the liver, as well as alcohol-related financial, relationship, employment and legal problems (for instance, receiving multiple DUIs).

  • A recent national United States survey of female college students found that 15% of them had been raped at some time since the age of 14. In 53% of these cases, the victim was drinking and in 64% of these cases, the offender was drinking.

  • The alcohol abuse and alcoholism research literature has demonstrated that American young people are over-represented in driving accidents involving alcohol. For instance, in a recent year, people from the age of 16 to 24 were involved in 28% of all alcohol-related driving accidents, even though they make up only 14% of the U.S. population. Young people are also over-represented in drinking driver injuries and deaths.

  • According to alcoholism research, there are higher rates of alcoholism in the unemployed, laborers, those of lower socioeconomic status, those that drop out of high school, those who entered college but failed to earn a degree, and those under more stress.

  • When combined with other drugs, legal or illegal, alcohol accounts for approximately 33% of all drug overdoses in the United States.

  • Studies have shown that inpatient detoxification programs are more effective and longer lasting than outpatient detox programs. The important issue here, however, is the following: the more severe the alcohol-related withdrawal symptoms, the more likely that inpatient detox programs should be used.

  • Tolerance is one of the reasons that drug or alcohol addiction is so insidious and how addiction leads to a negative spiral that gets totally out of control. If a person needs more of the same drug to get the 'high' she or he used to get, when does this behavior ever stop? That's just it--it doesn't, and so the addict's life is like an out-of-control freight train that just went off the tracks.

  • According to criminal statistics, alcohol is a factor in nearly half of the accidental deaths, suicides, and murders in the U.S.

  • According to a 2007 Science Daily report, school age kids with multiple reasons to drink, including reasons related to coping with life, show the heaviest and most problematic drinking behaviors.

  • According to one U.S. study, almost 20% of 8th-graders, and 41% of 10th-graders surveyed have been drunk at least once.

  • Studies have shown that inpatient detoxification programs are more effective and longer lasting than outpatient detox programs. The important issue here, however, is the following: the more severe the alcohol-related withdrawal symptoms, the more likely that inpatient detox programs should be used.

  • People in distress, whether it is from alcohol, drugs, depression, gambling or eating disorders usually display poor coping skills. These poor coping skills are often negatively impacting them and concerned people around them.

  • In some areas, part of the DUI school curriculum puts offenders face to face with victims, who tell their painful stories of how a drunk driver changed their lives forever. The idea is that personalizing the pain that drinking and driving can cause might make the offender stop and think before getting behind the wheel after drinking.

  • According to the alcohol abuse and alcoholism research literature, approximately 500 million work days are lost each year to alcoholism in the United States.

  • Stress and anxiety can be temporarily relieved by drinking alcohol, but this may lead to repeated intake and dependence.

  • According to a report published by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, eighty-seven percent of U.S. adults who drink had their first drink before the age of 21.

  • Alcohol is a problem if it causes problems in any part of your life. This includes your health, your work and your life at home. You may have a problem with alcohol if you think about drinking all the time, if you keep trying to quit on your own but can't, or if you often drink more than you plan to.

Attention Alcoholics: Don't be So Selfish

You're in a rut and can't kick your addiction. If you're honest with yourself, you realize that your drinking has adversely affected your health, finances, and your work. But your drinking has also negatively affected those who care the most about you. Wake up and get the alcohol treatment you need.

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Help for Drug and Alcohol Problems

The following toll-free phone number is a number to a call center/treatment center that we are proudly affiliated with. This treatment facility provides top-quality and professional "holistic" drug and alcohol rehab and counseling that addresses virtually every aspect of the person's life.

There is someone at this phone number 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Please call this number if you have questions about a drug or alcohol problem or if you want some information about quality drug or alcohol treatment. (888) 565-2282

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Drug and Alcohol Treatment Info

The following toll-free phone number is a number to a call center/treatment center that we are proudly affiliated with. This treatment facility provides top-quality and professional "holistic" drug and alcohol rehab and counseling that addresses virtually every aspect of the person's life.

There is someone at this phone number 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Please call this number if you have questions about a drug or alcohol problem or if you want some information about quality drug or alcohol treatment. (888) 565-2282

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