Alcoholics in treatment constitute a small proportion of alcoholics in the general population. Findings from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) (Cohen et al., 2007) indicate that, of the estimated 27 million Americans exhibiting alcohol use disorders at some time during their lives, only about 15% have ever received any treatment. Among those with a prior-to-past year alcohol dependence (AD), NESARC results indicate that 25.5% have received treatment (Dawson et al., 2005); thus, about 75% of AD are not represented by samples drawn from treatment settings.
