Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Dec;60(12):1618-28.
doi: 10.1176/ps.2009.60.12.1618.

Perceived need for treatment for alcohol use disorders: results from two national surveys

Mark J Edlund  1 , Brenda M Booth, Zachary L Feldman
Affiliations

Perceived need for treatment for alcohol use disorders: results from two national surveys

Mark J Edlund et al. Psychiatr Serv. 2009 Dec.

Abstract

Objectives: Most individuals with alcohol use disorders receive no treatment for their disorder. Past research suggests that a major reason for this is that individuals with alcohol use disorders do not perceive a need for treatment. The research presented here had two objectives. First, to provide updated estimates of the percentage of individuals with alcohol use disorders who perceive a need for treatment, and among those, the percentage who receive any treatment for alcohol use disorders. And second, to investigate the determinants of perceived need for and utilization of treatment for alcohol use disorders.

Methods: Secondary data analyses were performed for two national surveys, the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (3,305 individuals with alcohol use disorders) and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (7,009 individuals with alcohol use disorders).

Results: In both surveys fewer than one in nine individuals with an alcohol use disorder perceived a need for treatment. In predicting perceived need, the explanatory power of diagnostic variables was much greater than that of demographic variables. Among those with perceived need, two out of every three persons reported receiving treatment in the past year.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that failure to perceive need continues to be the major reason that individuals with alcohol use disorders do not receive treatment. On the other hand, among those who perceived a need, a majority received treatment. It is likely that high levels of unmet need for treatment services for alcohol use disorders will persist as long as perceived need is low. Efforts are needed to increase levels of perceived need among those with alcohol use disorders.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Kessler RC, Chiu WT, Demler O, et al. Prevalence, severity, and comorbidity of 12-month DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Archives of General Psychiatry. 2005;62:617–627. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Grant BF, Stinson FS, Dawson DA, et al. Prevalence and co-occurrence of substance use disorders and independent mood and anxiety disorders: Results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Archives of General Psychiatry. 2004;61(8):807–816. - PubMed
    1. Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration: Office of Applied Studies . Summary of Findings from the 2000 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Department of Health and Human Services; Rockville, MD: 2000.
    1. Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, et al. Lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset distributions of DSM-IV disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Archives of General Psychiatry. 2005;62:593–602. - PubMed
    1. Murray C, Lopez A. The Global Burden of Disease: A Comprehensive Assessment of Mortality and Disability from Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors in 1990 and Projected to 2020. The Harvard School of Public Health on Behalf of the World Health Organization and the World Bank; Boston: 1996.

Publication types