Two hundred forty-nine patients who were treated for alcoholism in an inpatient multimodal treatment program that included aversion therapy were matched post hoc on 17 baseline variables with patients from a national treatment outcome registry. The latter patients received inpatient treatment that emphasized individual and group counseling as the primary therapeutic elements but did not include aversion therapy for alcohol. Six- and 12-month abstinence rates from alcohol and all mood-altering chemicals are reported. The patients treated with aversion therapy for alcohol had higher alcohol abstinence rates at 6 and 12 months (p < 0.01). The abstinence rates from all mood-altering chemicals were higher in the aversion group at 6 months (p < 0.05) but not at 12 months. These comparisons pooled faradic aversion and chemical aversion results. In order to determine whether or not the faradic aversion gave comparable results to the chemical aversion, the two groups were separately analyzed. No significant differences in outcome were found. In fact, the faradic aversion group showed a slight (nonsignificant) increase in abstinence rate.

Two hundred forty-nine patients who were treated for alcoholism in an inpatient multimodal treatment program that included aversion therapy were matched post hoc on 17 baseline variables with patients from a national treatment outcome registry. The latter patients received inpatient treatment that emphasized individual and group counseling as the primary therapeutic elements but did not include aversion therapy for alcohol. Six- and 12-month abstinence rates from alcohol and all mood-altering chemicals are reported. The patients treated with aversion therapy for alcohol had higher alcohol abstinence rates at 6 and 12 months (p less than 0.01). The abstinence rates from all mood-altering chemicals were higher in the aversion group at 6 months (p less than 0.05) but not at 12 months. The largest differences between treatment groups in 6-month alcohol abstinence rates were noted for males (p less than 0.001), those over 35 (p less than 0.001), daily drinkers (p less than 0.001), and those with alcohol-related work performance problems (p less than 0.05).

The therapeutic process made during treatment is often negated by adverse factors in the patient's social environment. Relapse is often associated with addictive use of alcohol or other drugs by the spouse or other close personal associates. A major emphasis of every aftercare plan should be to effectively deal with these addicted individuals in the patient's environment. Ideally the adverse effects will be eliminated by successfully treating the significant other's own addiction. Failing that, other appropriate strategies should be employed to protect the patient from his or her relapse-inducing adverse influences.

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