Introduction

Community surveys reveal large numbers of people drinking at high risk levels, typically about 6 per cent of the adult male and 1 per cent of the adult female population in England and Wales (see, e.g., Goddard and Ikin 1988). At a conservative estimate, this means that something like 800,000 people are at risk of developing alcohol-related problems, at least one-third of whom are already exhibiting symptoms of alcohol dependence. A disproportionate number of these problem drinkers show up in primary health care, social work and probation practice, although they are rarely identified as such (Shaw et al. 1978; Jarman and Kellett 1979; Abel 1983).