Network Support for Alcohol Treatment 2

The Network Support project is part of an ongoing effort to improve treatment for alcohol dependent patients. The Network Support Project is designed to help patients change their social network from one that reinforces drinking behavior to one that reinforces sobriety. 160 patients will be assigned to one of two treatments. Each of the treatments will last 12 weeks. The first is a Network Support (NS) treatment designed to help patients develop new acquaintances and social networks. It is expected that alcohol dependent patients will benefit from increasing their contact with non-drinking people. This NS condition will be compared to a packaged CBT program for alcoholics (PCBT) that is designed to teach a number of skills to help people stop drinking, but does not address social networks per se. In order to better understand what is happening to the investigators patients, the investigators will be using daily computerized telephone calls to ask about people's experiences. This will be done both before and after treatment. Patients will also be asked to participate in follow-up interviews every 3 months for 2 years following the end of treatment.