Patients were recruited from consecutive admissions to the psychiatric and addiction medicine departments of 5 different study centers at University hospitals across Southern and Central Germany: Regensburg, Mannheim, Munich, Bonn/Essen/Düsseldorf/Homburg and Mainz. These centres are members of the German Addiction Research Network (GARN; http://www.bw-suchtweb.de) for which one of the co-authors (KM) is spokesman. All patients included in the study suffered from alcohol dependence of such severity that hospitalisation for the treatment or prevention of severe withdrawal symptoms was warranted. All patients received a diagnosis of alcohol dependence (DSM-IV) by consensus of two clinical psychiatrists. Within the GARN study, DSM-IV criteria were ascertained systematically through use of semi-structured and independently rated interviews conducted by trained staff members.
