Deciding on whether to use medical management for the treatment of alcohol withdrawal requires that patients be separated into three groups. The first and most obvious group comprises those clients who have had a previous history of the most extreme forms of withdrawal, that of seizures and/or delirium. This group is discussed in more detail below, but in general, the medication treatment of this group in early abstinence, whether or not they have had the initiation of withdrawal symptoms, should proceed as quickly as possible.