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Treatments for alcohol abuse are quite varied in keeping with the multiple perspectives of the condition itself. Counselors approaching the condition as a medical disease will recommend different treatment processes and goals than, for instance, those approaching the condition as one of social choice. Most treatments focus on helping abusers completely discontinue their alcohol intake, as well as providing life training and/or social support to help them resist a return to alcohol use. Since alcohol abuse involves many factors which encourage a person to continue drinking (psychological/social, physical, and neurochemical), all of these factors must be addressed in order to successfully prevent a return to active alcohol use.

The most common approach to alcohol abuse treatment is detoxification followed by a combination of supportive therapy, attendance at self-help groups, and ongoing development of coping mechanisms. The treatment community for alcohol abuse typically supports an abstinence-based approach, as studies have shown that the vast majority of people who abuse alcohol cannot learn to drink in moderation.

The effectiveness of alcohol abuse treatments vary from successful to counterproductive. When considering the effectiveness of treatment options, it is important to consider the percentage of those who drop out of a program, not just those who complete it. Most programs can boast a high cure rate for those who complete it because most people only complete a program if it works for them. It is also important to consider not just the percentage of those reaching sobriety but how many of those experience relapsing.

Here are the most common treatment options for alcohol abuse:
Detoxification
Detoxification (commonly referred to as “detox”) is the process of eliminating alcohol drinking and giving the drinker’s bodily system time to re-adjust to the absence of alcohol. Drugs that have similar effects to alcohol are used to ease the withdrawal symptoms, which can actually be deadly in extreme cases if left untreated. The most often used drugs are sedative-hypnotics, such as diazepam or clonazepam. Less frequently, barbiturates such as phenobarbital are used. Many weeks after alcohol intake has completely stopped individuals may still suffer from milder withdrawal symptoms; sleep is generally the last function to return to normal.

Detoxification is not a treatment for alcohol abuse itself, but is simply a treatment of the physiologic effects of ongoing abuse of alcohol. It provides an initial path for an abuser to stop drinking in the first place. Detoxification treatments without supplemental help for the patient to continue abstinence have a very high rate of relapse.

Detoxification often takes place within an inpatient environment, but some programs do offer outpatient detoxification.

Group therapy and psychotherapy
After detoxification, various forms of group therapy or psychotherapy can be used to deal with underlying psychological issues leading to alcohol abuse, and also to provide the recovering abuser with relapse prevention skills.

In the mid-1930s, the mutual-help group-counseling approach to treatment began and has become very popular. Alcoholics Anonymous is the best-known example of the support group movement. Other groups that provide similar self-help and support without AA’s spiritual focus include LifeRing Secular Recovery, Smart Recovery, Women For Sobriety, and Rational Recovery.

Medications
Medications for alcohol abuse are most often used to supplement a person’s willpower and encourage abstinence.

Antabuse (disulfiram), for instance, prevents the elimination of the chemical acetaldehyde. This causes severe discomfort when alcohol is ingested, effectively preventing the abuser from drinking in significant amounts while they take the medication. Heavy drinking while on Antabuse can result in severe illness and death.

Naltrexone has also been used because it helps curb cravings for alcohol while the person is on it. Both Antabuse and Naltrexone are used to encourage abstinence. The have, however, been demonstrated to cause a rebound effect when the user stops taking them.

Pharmacological extinction (also called the Sinclair Method)
Pharmacological extinction is the use of opioid antagonists [e.g. naltrexone] combined with normal drinking habits in order to eliminate the craving to consume alcohol. While standard naltrexone treatment uses the drug to curb craving and enforce abstinence, pharmacological extinction targets the endorphin-based neurological conditioning. Our behaviors become conditioned when we do something and endorphin bathes our neurons, and that conditioning is reversed when we do that thing and we don’t receive the endorphins. This method involves the alcohol abusers going about their normal drinking habits (limited only by safety concerns). Naltrexone is used to prevent the endorphins from being released by the alcohol, and thus rewarding the drinker’s neurochemistry. As such, the desire to drink is eliminted over a period of about three months. This allows an alcohol abuser to give up drinking as being sensibly unbeneficial. The effects persist after the drug is discontinued, but the addiction can return if the person drinks without first taking the drug. This treatment is highly unusual in that it works better if the patient does not go through detoxification prior to starting it.

This technique is used with positive results in Finland, Pennsylvania, and Florida, and is sometimes referred to as the Sinclair Method.

However, there is a lot of professional bias against this treatment for two reasons.
First, most alcohol abusers cannot successfully drink in moderation. Second, some studies have also been done which claim to demonstrate naltrexone to be of questionable value in supporting abstinence. However, the evidence is inconclusive.

Nutritional therapy
Nutritional therapy is not a treatment of alcohol abuse itself, but rather a treatment of the difficulties that can arise after years of heavy alcohol abuse; many alcohol dependents have insulin resistance syndrome, a metabolic disorder where the body’s difficulty in processing sugars causes an unsteady supply to the blood stream. While the disorder can be treated by a hypoglycemic diet, this can affect behavior and emotions. These side-effects are often seen among alcohol dependents in treatment. The metabolic aspects of such dependence are often overlooked, resulting in poor treatment outcomes.

There are other less popular treatments for alcohol abuse. This list is not meant to be an exhaustive compilation of every known treatment, but merely a general description of the most common treatments in use today. People are unique; what works best for one alcohol abuser may not be the same treatment that works best for another. For the greatest level of success, the treatment used must address the root causes of abuse to begin with. Only then will long-term success be achievable.

Related Alcohol Abuse Articles

Stop Alcohol Abuse

 

Alcohol abuse is one of those issues in society that brings mixed reactions when you talk about the need to stop alcohol abuse.  People who drink too much or have alcohol dependence often deny they have a problem.  As long as they are in denial there is not much chance they will seek alcohol treatment.  The more they drink the more difficult alcohol withdrawal becomes.  The true alcohol addiction involves real cravings that consume your life.  Alcohol abuse, on the other hand, is a condition where you still have control and are able to limit yourself, but your drinking is causing problems in your life. 

 

Being Realistic

 

When you decide it is time to stop alcohol abuse the first thing you need to do is be realistic.  You have to be realistic about the impact alcohol has on your body and your relationships.  Almost everyone has been around a person who habitually abuses alcohol in social settings.  People talk about how sloppy drunk the person gets or how obnoxious.  You see yourself as the life of the party while others see you as the irritant of the occasion.

 

It Takes More Than Resistance

 

To stop alcohol abuse takes a lot more than just resistance.  Anyone who regularly abuses alcohol has already proven they have a low resistance.  Instead you need to delve into your mind and identify those thoughts which lead to alcohol abuse.  You can stop drinking, and learn to enjoy social events without getting drunk.  You can find the confidence you need to handle situations in your life without habitually using alcohol.

 

Motivation

 

You can have the motivation to stop alcohol abuse, but you still need the motivation to maintain your new thought processes.  Self hypnosis provides the perfect alcohol treatment program for those who abuse alcohol regularly but don’t require a doctor’s care during withdrawal.  Self hypnosis is a program that can be used to stop alcohol abuse quickly while also providing the means of providing ongoing motivation.

 

Truthful Change

 

Through self hypnosis you can learn to take control of your thoughts so that you are always aware during any situation of the lure of alcohol.  By understanding how your thinking goes, you are able to identify those points in your thinking that lead to bad choices such as alcohol abuse.  Forewarned is forearmed as the saying goes.  If you understand those situations which lead to alcohol abuse, you are able to use the greater understanding of your own thought processes to make good decisions about drinking.

 

Calling Upon Your Own Will Power

 

Self hypnosis and Neuro Linguistic Programming are techniques that focus on identifying patterns of thinking that lead to patterns of behavior.  Since alcohol abuse is often a learned habit, it is possible to change the habit so that the abuse stops.  If you have alcohol abuse problems, self hypnosis offers you a simple way to re-train your mind in order to break old habits.  It is a form of alcohol treatment that is ideal for the alcohol abuser who still has some control over their behavior.                                      

 

Using Self Hypnosis Recordings to help

 

Although Self Hypnosis Recordings can seem rather odd and even questionable, it has been found to be incredibly useful in tackling a huge range of different issues, alcohol abuse included. One such recording is Stop Alcohol Abuse by the late Duncan McColl; Duncan was and still is considered one of the best hypnotherapists of all time and his mastery of NLP and Hypnosis is passed onto all of his recordings, all of which come with a full 60 day money back guarantee.  

 

 

 

 

 

Related Alcohol Abuse Articles

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