Placebo injections and surveillance of alcohol intake during inpatient treatment of female alcoholics

Abstract

Institutions for treating alcoholics differ widely with respect to how restrictively they apply psychopharmacological agents and how rigorously they control patients for intake of alcohol. This study investigates the impact of such policies on relapse rates. During a three month inpatient treatment, 70 female alcoholics were assigned to one of four conditions: (a) strict surveillance of alcohol intake by means of breath tests and frequent checks of patient's rooms as well as injections of a placebo purportedly reducing craving, (b) no surveillance but placebo injections, (c) surveillance but no placebo injections, and (d) neither surveillance nor placebo injections. The amount of surveillance did not influence relapse rates. However, during inpatient treatment more relapses occurred among patients who received the placebo injections than among those who did not. Although this effect was no longer significant following treatment, the increase of relapse rates suggests caution in the application of nonspecific medication in the treatment of alcoholics.