Medication in the treatment of alcohol dependence

Abstract

Social, cultural, emotional and biological influences determine whether people drink to excess and whether they then experience harm or cause harm to others (Cook, 1994). Psychosocial treatments for alcohol dependence are only modestly successful, with most studies finding that at least 50% of patients return to harmful drinking in the following year. In the past decade there has been new evidence for the role of pharmacological treatments in reducing harm from drinking and in preventing relapse.