Many treatment models for alcohol or substance use disorder have complete abstinence as a goal.
For some people, moderation may be a better option.

What is moderate drinking?
The CDC says moderate drinking is 2 drinks or less in a day for men and 1 drink or less in a day for women, when alcohol is consumed. Anything over this amount begins to negatively affect tissue and organs including the heart, liver, bones, and brain.

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcohollism defines heavy drinking as
For men, consuming more than 4 drinks on any day or more than 14 drinks per week
For women, consuming more than 3 drinks on any day or more than 7 drinks per week

For some people, learning how to reduce drinking to a safer level is a realistic and attainable goal. For others, trying moderation is a first step in quitting completely.

For people who identify as “problem drinkers,” or who have other reasons to cut back on alcohol (for example, diabetes or other health issues), moderation may be a more appealing and realistic goal than lifelong abstinence.

In fact, in some instances, attempting to quit completely (as is encouraged in A.A. and other 12-step programs) and failing leads to discouragement and shame. Harm reduction advocates believe that any steps taken to reduce the risks and consequences of drinking or using other substances are positive.

It is helpful to think of alcohol abuse on a spectrum, not as an all-or-nothing condition.

Who is most likely to succeed at alcohol moderation?

According to recent studies, “problem drinkers” are more likely to succeed at moderation programs than those with severe drinking problems. The problem in distinguishing between these groups, because people with addiction problems typically minimize, justify, and defend their behavior (without intending to) and often under-report their use. Studies have shown that those who are most committed and motivated to treatment programs do better at both moderating or abstaining.

Those who tend to succeed in moderating drinking are people who:

• Have shorter drinking histories and less severe alcohol-related problems

• Have never been physically addicted to alcohol (experiencing withdrawal)

• Have never been addicted to or had severe problems with other drugs

• Are not currently grappling with severe life problems such as divorce, job loss, bankruptcy, debilitating or life-threatening medical illness, death of a loved one, depression or other psychiatric illness, etc.

• Have no medical or psychiatric problems that would only be made worse by drinking alcohol, even in moderation

Moderation Management (MM) is an alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)

MM meetings are not as universally available as AA and NA meetings, but today there are Zoom meeting alternatives. The Book Responsible Drinking: A Moderation Management Approach for Problem Drinkers by Rotgers, F., Kern, M. & Hoeltzel, R. (CA: New Harbinger Publications, 2002) is the basic text of Moderation Management (MM), a support group which helps individuals moderate drinking, or abstain. See more information at https://moderation.org/.