Inpatient managed withdrawal is best for patients with significant consistent alcohol use daily for months, history of seizures, significant medical issues, severe concurrent mental illness, and unstable home environment/poor outpatient reliability (see “How to Predict Severity of Alcohol Withdrawal”). From Treating Alcohol Use Disorder: A Fact Book (2023).

Predicting the severity of withdrawal is important for deciding on the right treatment setting. Will your patient need inpatient treatment, or will outpatient treatment be sufficient? And if inpatient is needed, will they need to be treated in the ICU, or will a psychiatric unit suffice? In this fact sheet, we help you predict the severity of withdrawal in a given patient. From Treating Alcohol Use Disorder: A Fact Book (2023).

When family members need support from others who are also struggling with a loved one’s substance use issues, referring them to Al-Alon or Alateen is a great option. From Treating Alcohol Use Disorder: A Fact Book (2023).

Blood alcohol level (BAL, sometimes called BAC for blood alcohol concentration) is often used in emergency rooms to give insight into the severity of a patient’s alcohol use and to help guide predictions about when they will be sober enough for a psychiatric evaluation and when they may start to experience withdrawal. From Treating Alcohol Use Disorder: A Fact Book (2023).

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is highly effective for alcohol use disorder (AUD) patients—but only if they are motivated and determined to complete homework exercises and to practice assigned coping skills. Many clinicians naturally use CBT techniques with AUD patients without knowing it. For example, any time you discuss relapse prevention strategies (see “Teaching Relapse Prevention Techniques in Alcohol Use Disorder”), you are using a version of CBT. From Treating Alcohol Use Disorder: A Fact Book (2023).

Alcohol withdrawal symptom onset: Usually within six to eight hours of last drink, though in some very heavy drinkers, withdrawal may not begin until 24 hours after last drink. From Treating Alcohol Use Disorder: A Fact Book (2023).

There are many benzodiazepines to choose from. Generally they are all effective for alcohol withdrawal, and the key thing is to pick one that you are comfortable with and get familiar with its use. Nonetheless, some benzos have become favorites of addiction specialists, and in this sheet we provide some guidelines for how to decide on benzos for specific patients. From Treating Alcohol Use Disorder: A Fact Book (2023).

Naltrexone blocks opioid receptors in the brain, which can decrease cravings for and rewarding effects of alcohol or opioids. Especially when combined with other types of therapy or support, it can help people to stop using alcohol or opioids and prevent relapse. From Treating Alcohol Use Disorder: A Fact Book (2023).

A key ingredient of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for alcohol use disorder is discussing automatic negative thoughts that may trigger drinking (see “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Techniques in Alcohol Use Disorder” for more information). This is a template of a worksheet you can use with your patients to facilitate this technique. Typically, you and your patient would fill out one of these worksheets together during a visit, and then you would ask your patient to do this exercise at least once every week as a homework assignment, and to bring the completed worksheet to the next visit for discussion. This template includes an example from the vignette discussed in the CBT fact sheet. You can download this template and adapt it as needed for your practice setting. From Treating Alcohol Use Disorder: A Fact Book (2023).

An intervention is a planned meeting with the patient, the family, and usually an addiction professional (an interventionist). The purpose is to confront a patient reluctant to seek treatment with information from family and friends in the hopes of encouraging treatment seeking. From Treating Alcohol Use Disorder: A Fact Book (2023).