An additional limitation is that the treatments examined in Project MATCH and COMBINE primarily focused on skills to maintain abstinence and, with the exception of the UKATT study, patients did not receive training in skills to moderate alcohol consumption. Our findings should be interpreted in that light. Future research could extend the current study by examining patients in programs that allow moderate drinking goals and impart skills to achieve moderate drinking. Future research could also extend the current study by examining treatment factors that might modify drinking trajectories, including treatment attendance and engagement[51, 52] and therapeutic alliance[53–55].
