Of 45 Ss who began treatment for problem drinking, 21 males and 20 females completed enough sessions to be regarded as treated in 1 of 4 groups: (a) bibliotherapy, in which clients received self-help materials but no treatment sessions; (b) behavioral self-control training (BSCT), consisting of 6 weekly sessions; (c) BSCT plus 12 sessions of relaxation, communication, and assertion training; or (d) BSCT plus 12 wks of individually tailored broad-spectrum modules. Multimodal assessment was used to evaluate drinking behavior, life problems, and general functioning. All groups showed significant improvement on drinking measures and general improvement on other dimensions, a trend confirmed by collateral reports. Bibliotherapy clients spent more hours per week intoxicated than other groups, but no other significant group differences were observed. The degree to which therapists showed accurate empathy proved to be a good predictor of client outcome. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2000 APA, all rights reserved)
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