AbstractProblem drinkers (99 males, 41 females) wishing to qmt or cut down without professional help received a 60‐minute session during which they lucre‐ assessed and given at random one of these materials: Guidelines, a two‐page. pamphlet outlining specific methods for achieving abstinence or moderate drinking; Manual, a 30‐page booklet describing the methods in the Guidelines; or General Information, a package about alcohol effects. At 12 months following ‐up, subjects in the Guidelines and Manual conditions showed significantly greater reductions of heavy days (of 5 + drinks) than subjects in General Information (70% vs. 24%); in addition, significantly fewer subjects in the Guidelines and the Manual conditions expressed need for professional assistance will their drinking (25% vs. 46% in General Information). No main effect of condition or gender was observed on rates of moderate drinking. At 12 months follow‐up, 31% of the men and 43% of the women were rated as moderate drinkers. It was concluded that drinkers intending to cut damn on their own derive greater benefit (in terms of their alcohol use) from materials containing specific instructions to develop moderate drinking than from those providing general information on alcohol effects. Clinical and research implications of the findings ar