The causes of alcoholism can be attributed either to genetic or environmental factors. Children of alcoholics have a 50-60% chance of becoming alcoholic according to Barlow and Durand (2006). They have a higher tolerance for alcohol intake than most people. The child's alcohol dependence can also be due in part to the fact that throughout childhood, alcohol was habitually around, which is an environmental factor (Barlow and Durand, 2006). .
There are two main treatment methods for alcoholism that are the source of controversy today. Abstinence, most prominently advocated by the self-help group, Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), is defined as "the act of refraining from engaging in a positively reinforced, or pleasurable, behavior" (Leischow, 2002). To abstain from drinking is to commit to never take a drink again in your life time, as opposed to "controlled drinking" where you rely on personal self control to determine when you have consumed enough alcohol. In the U.S.A., abstinence is believed to be the treatment of choice after suffering from alcohol abuse (Leischow, 2002). .
The popular group AA, with its twelve step healing program for alcohol abusers, promotes abstinence as the only way to achieve successful recovery. One of their slogans reads " first drink, then drunk" (Orford &ump; Keddie, 1986) referring to the solution of controlled drinking. Adhering to abstinence, according to AA, is ultimately linked to the kind of social network surrounding the recovering alcoholic. If the patient has an increased social network in both quality and size, and if the network is altogether supportive, it is possible to achieve the goal of abstaining from alcohol use (Borkman, Kaskutas, &ump; Owen 2007). .
There are several advantages in choosing abstinence over controlled drinking. "For example, exposure to an alcohol-relevant cue can increase physiological reactivity craving for alcohol, and operant responding for an alcoholic beverage" (Townshed &ump; Duka, 2007).
