Coping-skills training and cue-exposure therapy in the treatment of alcoholism

Coping-skills training (CST) and cue-exposure treatment (CET) are two relat ively new approaches in alcoholism treatment. With CST, the therapist tries to strengthen the patient's skills in coping with situations associated wi th a high risk of drinking. These skills can be specific to certain high-ri sk situations or involve general social skills. Specific CST treatment appr oaches include relapse prevention training, social or communication skills training, urge-specific coping-skills training, and cognitive-behavioral mo od management training. Several studies have shown that CST can be more eff ective than comparison treatments in improving the outcome (e.g., the frequ ency and severity of relapses) of alcoholic patients. CET exposes the patie nt to alcohol-related cues (e.g, the sight or smell of alcohol), thereby al lowing the patient to practice responses to such cues in real-life situatio ns. In addition, CET teaches a variety of coping skills for dealing with ur ges caused by such cues. Few studies have examined the effectiveness of GET , but the existing results demonstrate favorable treatment outcomes (e.g, r educed drinking severity).