DISCUSSION
comorbidity, psychological distress
Of individuals with alcohol use problems from the general population presenting to a trial of telephone-delivered treatment, the majority (70.64%) were first-time help-seekers, despite two-thirds experiencing high levels of alcohol problem severity. This finding exceeds estimates from previous research that approximately one-third of clients accessing telephone-delivered alcohol interventions experience high alcohol problem severity (In the current study, nearly half of participants accessing telephone-delivered alcohol treatment were female. This is in contrast to Australian alcohol treatment data that show two-thirds of clients accessing alcohol treatment are male (Latent class analysis identified two distinct profiles of participants in terms of the barriers to seeking treatment: (a) a low problem recognition class, which was more likely to endorse readiness for change and attitudinal barriers, and (b) a complex barriers class, which was differentiated by a higher number of barriers endorsed (approximately twice that of the low problem recognition class) and endorsed attitudinal, readiness for change, and also stigma and structural barriers. These findings are partially consistent with previous research that has found classes differentiated by high and low frequency of barriers experienced by non-treatment seeking individuals with alcohol problems (Complex barrier class membership was predicted by female sex and higher psychological distress. This is consistent with previous research that has found people with alcohol and psychological comorbidity experience heightened barriers to treatment (The belief that one should be able to handle the problem alone is consistently identified as a prominent barrier preventing access to alcohol treatment among non-treatment seekers (