The Benefits of Counseling for Drinking Problems in Young Users may be Limited

First Posted: Aug 22, 2014 01:51 AM EDT
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Counseling techniques that were once used to help young people dealing with alcoholism have limited benefit, according to recent findings published in the Cochrane Library.

Study results revealed that every year, close to 320,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 29 die as a result of alcohol use, with many of the deaths occurring from a car accident, suicide, murder or drowning.

For the study, researchers examined 66 trials that involved a total of 17,901 individuals under the age of 25. Researchers found that motivational interviewing, which can be used to help with the issue, had no effect on alcohol related problems, drunken driving, binge drinking and other risky behaviors related to alcohol use.

"The results suggest that for young people who misuse alcohol there is no substantial, meaningful benefit of motivational interviewing," said lead researcher David Foxcroft, who is based at the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at Oxford Brookes University in Oxford, UK, in a news release. "The effects we saw were probably too small to be of relevance to policy or practice."

"There may be certain groups of young adults for whom motivational interviewing is more successful in preventing alcohol-related problems," Foxcroft concluded. "But we need to see larger trials in these groups to be able to make any firm conclusions."

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