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Constant research has led to the development of a wide range of medications that can help people with an addiction to alcohol control their urges and gain sobriety.
In the past, people with an alcohol addiction had to go "cold turkey," meaning immediately quitting alcohol and having to deal with the withdrawal symptoms and urging through the power of their will. Unfortunately, most alcoholics could not quit on their own, with each failed attempt driving them deeper into the bottle.
But recent advances in research and development have lead to a slew of new drug treatment options becoming available to help people looking to quit drinking. The good news about these drugs is that they are not likely to lead to prescription drug abuse, since many people with alcohol addictions are also more prone to addictions to other drugs once they quit drinking.
The oldest drug approved for the treatment of alcoholism is Antabuse, which interferes with the body's ability to absorb alcohol. This leads to just a small about of alcohol making people very sick, including feeling nauseous and flushed. However, Joseph Volpicelli, MD, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, told WebMD.com that Antabuse is not commonly used today in an alcohol and drug rehab program because "what people do instead of deciding that alcohol's a bad thing to take, they think that Antabuse is a bad thing to take and they stop taking it."
Many newer drugs focus on reducing the brain's urges to drink rather than "punishing" a person for drinking and are more widely accepted for use in an alcohol abuse center. Naltrexone blocks the receptors in the brain for endorphins, the proteins that regulate the body's feeling of pleasure. Volpicelli said that Naltrexone breaks the "positive feedback loop" that addicts have that cause them to want to do more and more of something - such as having 10 drinks instead of one or two.
A study sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), showed that Naltrexone was as effective as up to 20 sessions of alcohol rehab counseling by a behavioral specialist when administered under a doctor's close supervision.
- Annabeth Morrison is a freelance writer living in Port Royal, Pennsylvania. She has written for major magazines, newspapers and online news sites.
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