Efficacy of an intensive outpatient rehabilitation program in alcoholism: Predictors of outcome 6 months after treatment

Treatment of alcohol-dependent patients was primarily focused on inpatient settings in the past decades. The efficacy of these treatment programs has been evaluated in several studies and proven to be sufficient. However, with regard to the increasing costs in public healthcare systems, questions about alternative treatment strategies have been raised. Meanwhile, there is growing evidence that outpatient treatment might be comparably effective as inpatient treatment, at least for subgroups of alcohol dependents. On that background, the present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a high-structured outpatient treatment program in 103 alcohol-dependent patients. 74 patients (72%) terminated the outpatient treatment regularly. At 6 months' follow-up, 95% patients were successfully located and personally re-interviewed. Analyses revealed that 65 patients (64%) were abstinent at the 6-month follow-up evaluation and 37 patients ( 36%) were judged to be non-abstinent. Pretreatment variables which were found to have a negative impact (non-abstinence) on the 6-month outcome after treatment were a higher severity of alcohol dependence measured by a longer duration of alcohol dependence, a higher number of prior treatments and a stronger alcohol craving (measured by the Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale). Further patients with a higher degree of psychopathology measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (depression) and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (anxiety) relapsed more often. In summary, results of this study indicate a favorable outcome of socially stable alcohol-dependent patients and patients with a lower degree of depression, anxiety and craving in an intensive outpatient rehabilitation program

Social anxiety in three Western societies.

Item does not contain fulltextThe present study investigates whether empirical data support the notion that people in Western societies do not differ with regard to social anxiety. Social anxiety in Dutch students (N = 425) was compared with that experienced by students in the United States (N = 440) and Turkey (N = 349). Social anxiety was operationalized with the Inventory of Interpersonal Situations (IIS; Van Dam-Baggen & Kraaimaat, 1987, 1999, 2000), which measures two aspects of social anxiety, i.e., discomfort in social situations and frequency of social responses. The original Dutch version of the IIS (IOA) was translated into a U.S. English version (the IIS) and a Turkish version (KADE). First, it was shown that the American, Dutch, and Turkish versions of the IIS measured the same construct in terms of factor structure. Second, American students generally appeared more socially anxious than did the Dutch and Turkish students, whereas the latter's social anxiety slightly surpassed that of Dutch subjects. The American students also showed fewer social skills than both other groups, who did not differ in this respect. The results are somewhat more differentiated with respect to the domains of social anxiety, and they are discussed in terms of cross-cultural differences and their implications for clinical practice