BARRIERS TO TREATMENT - WHY ALCOHOL AND DRUG-ABUSERS DELAY OR NEVER SEEK TREATMENT

Reasons for delaying or not seeking treatment were compared between ou tpatient alcohol and drug abusers, and between alcohol abusers who had either resolved their problem without treatment, were currently not r esolved, or were in an outpatient treatment program. Outpatient alcoho l and drug abusers exhibited few differences in their endorsed reasons for delaying seeking treatment. There were, however. several differen ces between resolved and nonresolved alcohol abusers who had never sou ght treatment and alcohol abusers in treatment (e.g., endorsing items such as ''wanted to handle problem on own,'' ''didn't think I had a pr oblem''). Such differences may explain why some problem drinkers do no t seek treatment. Treatment implications of these findings are discuss ed.