The present study also showed that for more severe cases of AUDs, treatment barriers were reported by the majority of the patients as reasons not to seek treatment. This indicates that even once patients acknowledged a need for treatment they might face barriers as a lack of information or high costs. Next to drinking cultures and the extent of stigmatization of AUDs, the treatment systems vary across Europe [44, 45, 9]. Thereby treatment barriers should be investigated in the context of the specific health care system.
