Guidance
Update information
October 2014: The wording of the final bullet in recommendation 1.3.4.5 has been corrected to make it clear that inpatient or residential assisted withdrawal should be considered for people who regularly drink between 15 and 30 units (not between 15 and 20 units) of alcohol per day, if they also have the additional complicating features mentioned in the recommendation.
Minor changes since publication
October 2022: We updated the recommendation about behavioural couples therapy to clarify that this is not suitable in cases of domestic abuse and to add a cross reference to the NICE technology appraisal guidance on nalmefene. We also updated information about off label prescribing, and added cross references to legislation on controlled drugs and driving, to MHRA advice on addiction to benzodiazepines and codeine, and to NICE's guidelines on smoking, on antisocial personality disorder, and on coexisting severe mental illness and substance misuse: community health and social care services.
March 2020: Cross reference to NICE's guideline on supporting adult carers added to recommendation 1.1.2.2.
August 2019: We updated the terminology for harmful drinking and hazardous drinking in line with the UK chief medical officers' low risk drinking guidelines.
ISBN: 978-1-4731-3518-5