In a national sample of individuals self-identified as “in recovery,” abstainers compared to non-abstainers were older, more likely to have received professional treatment and to have attended self-help meetings, and had significantly more lifetime alcohol dependence symptoms (38). These similarities across a range of samples suggest that individuals who become abstinent, regardless of sampling frame, represent a severe end of the AUD continuum. In the current study, abstinence may represent a common end-point for individuals with severe AUD. It is possible that non-abstinent remitters will become abstinent for a period, or periods, of time. Given that nearly half (49.6%) of abstinent relatives in the current study had been remitted for 10 or more years, abstinence may indeed represent an end-point for subjects who remit from severe AUDs.
