In the Clinic sample, 100 severe alcoholics treated at the clinic were followed for 8 years. The clinic’s methods were multi-modal: detoxification and hospital treatment followed by referral to AA. At the end of the 8 years, 34% of subjects had achieved stable abstinence, 29% had died, and 26% were still abusing alcohol,[50] and the evidence was that other clinical studies had reported similar lack of success.[51] Subjects who had a stable social environment or who frequently went to AA meetings had the highest rates of abstinence. Overall, however, treatment other than AA did not significantly improve the subjects’ outcome.[52] In fact Vaillant reports the dismal fact that fully 95% of the Clinic sample had relapsed at some time during the 8 year study period.[53][54] Vaillant noted that clinical treatment helped only in the short term, as crisis intervention and detox. There was one indicator, a financial one, of short-term success: clinical intervention had significantly reduced the cost of future health care for the alcoholics.[55]

The Natural History of Alcoholism Revisited - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia