A Two-Year Follow-up Study Comparing Short with Long Stay In-patient Treatment of Alcoholics

In 1965, when this study began, there were no clear guidelines about the optimum duration of in-patient treatment for alcoholics. Davies et al. (1956) had reported that at the Maudsley Hospital the aim was for a ‘short stay’ of between two and three months—but some individuals stayed for up to ten months. The policy at Warlingham Park Hospital as described by Glatt (1955) was for an in-patient stay of at least two months, though ‘on the whole about three months is the optimum period’.