The wish not to stop drinking completely was particularly frequent among the treatment barriers reported in this study. Treatment approaches that emphasize goals other than abstinence [46, 47] could be reconsidered for those patients. For example, ‘guided self-change’ (GSC) is a brief cognitive-behavioral motivational intervention designed to assist in recognizing and resolving alcohol-related problems [48]. It includes goal setting, self-monitoring of drinking behavior, analysis of drinking situations, and learning alternate coping skills [49].
