The first study focused on early treatment engagement in the first two weeks of treatment in a medication trial of Prazosin versus Placebo that required a 2-week titration before reaching full dose (Study 1). All participants in Study 1 also received one hour per week of 12-step facilitation behavioral treatment as an adjunctive therapy. Study 2 served to provide a separate validation sample and test the hypothesis over an 8-week period using the same behavioral treatment as Study 1 but without the medication. The behavioral treatment consisted weekly one hour meetings with a therapist that provided 12-step facilitation (Nowinski et al., 1992) and was standard of care provided and was not compared to any other treatment. Thus, the focus of the present study was to assess the day-to-day effects of changes in stress and craving on drinking on each day as they naturally occur in the real world setting of outpatient treatment over and above any effect of standard treatment. Participants could attend self-help groups (e.g., Alcoholics Anonymous) but could not attend any other formal treatment. As stress and cravings
