Prognostic indicators of alcoholism treatment outcome.

This literature review is a systematic attempt to isolate the personal characteristics of alcoholics generally associated with their prognosis. Forty-five studies which met certain standards for inclusion are summarized here. The description of each study and its corresponding list of characteristics of alcoholics investigated for prognostic value are reported in tables. The tables do not reveal stable predictors across the studies, though some personal characteristics are more generally of predictive value than are others. A number of reasons for the absence of predictor stability are discussed--among them the possibility that certain treatments may work best with certain alcoholic patients.