ALCOHOL TREATMENT - MEASUREMENT OF EFFECTIVENESS BY GLOBAL OUTCOME

Traditional methods of data analysis in alcohol studies focus only on alcohol consumption as dependent variables rather than considering a g lobal, person-in-environment perspective. The purpose of this study wa s to evaluate treatment outcome in a clinical trial using dimensions o f life functioning in addition to quantity-frequency measures of alcoh ol use. Subjects were male veterans suffering from high levels of anxi ety in addition to alcohol dependence who were randomly assigned to tr eatment with a placebo or buspirone. Results show that global outcome measures did not reveal differences from standard treatment outcome me asures in this study. All of those subjects who were drinking heavily, and most of those drinking moderately, were experiencing life problem s. However, studies with other designs and with larger sample sizes ar e needed.