At some point most alcoholics are hospitalized, either to effect a period of enforced abstinence or to treat one of the complications of alcoholism. The goal of an admission, in addition to treatment of any complications, should be to engage the patient in a psychosocial treatment program, such as AA. Although 4-week inpatient rehabilitation programs were once popular throughout the United States, they have not been shown to increase the chances of long-term abstinence. Questions have been raised as to whether most alcoholics are even capable of understanding the sort of educational program offered during these 4-week stays. Most recently detoxified alcoholics experience a very mild delirium, the “fog,” that may last for weeks. Until this “mental fog” lifts, truly the only new idea that befogged alcoholics may be able to grasp is that if they want to stay sober they should go to 90 meetings in the 90 consecutive days after discharge, starting with a meeting on the day of discharge.
Family and friends should be encouraged to stop “enabling” patients by rescuing them or otherwise shielding them from the consequences of their drinking. Most family and friends hate to see alcoholics suffer, but in alcoholism the experience of consequences is the best, and sometimes the only, effective teacher. Thus when family or friends “protect” alcoholics, they only enable them to stay in denial and continue drinking, thus hastening the alcoholic’s demise. Those family and friends who find it difficult to stop “enabling” may benefit from attendance at Al-Anon, a group for family and friends that is allied with AA.
Three drugs, namely disulfiram, naltrexone, and, possibly, topiramate, may be of some benefit to some patients, but cannot be relied on in the absence of psychosocial methods.
Disulfiram, by inspiring patients with a fear of an “Antabuse” reaction should they drink, may make for enough sober time for patients to benefit from a psychosocial approach. Given the risks associated with disulfiram, cases must be highly selected, and disulfiram should generally not be prescribed to patients who are not committed to sobriety, as they generally end up drinking while taking it. This includes patients who want disulfiram so that they can “dry out” for a few weeks
and recover their health preparatory to resuming drinking, and also patients who are requesting the drug at the behest of others, whether it be a spouse or an employer. The use of disulfiram is discussed in detail in that chapter.
Naltrexone, in a dose of 50 mg daily, may, by reducing craving and damping the reinforcing euphoria of a drink should the patient “slip”, reduce the number of drinking days and increase the chances of abstinence. These effects, however, are modest at best, and may, indeed, in the case of severe alcoholism, be negligible.
Topiramate, in a dose of from 100 to 200 mg, was recently demonstrated, in one double-blind comparison with placebo, to reduce drinking days, and the amount consumed on drinking days, and to increase the number of abstinent days. If these results are replicated, then topiramate will assume a place in the treatment on alcoholism: its effectiveness relative to either disulfiram or naltrexone, however, remains to be seen.
Although the role of the physician in the treatment of alcoholism per se is limited, medical attention to concurrent psychiatric disorders may be critically important. Depression, mania, frequent panic attacks, or schizophrenia may all so incapacitate patients that they are unable to participate in rehabilitative efforts. By relieving patients of the symptoms of the concurrent disorder, the physician may enable them to fully involve themselves in their efforts at sobriety. If medications are used, their purpose must be clearly stated. Many patients fondly hope that taking a medicine will obviate the need for rehabilitative psychosocial work. Such hopes must be dashed; patients must understand clearly that no medicine for alcoholism itself exists. One must not prescribe sedative-hypnotics, including benzodiazepines, to outpatient alcoholics. Although these have a place in the treatment of alcohol withdrawal, as described in that chapter, they are contraindicated for outpatients. Furthermore, when nonhabituating medicines, such as antidepressants or antipsychotics, are prescribed patients must be informed that they cannot get “hooked” on them. It is also prudent to tell patients that some members of AA, lumping nonhabituating and habituating medicines in the same group, frown on taking medication of any sort. Patients therefore should be advised to confine their discussions about medication to their prescribing physician.
During the first few months of abstinence, patients who went through alcohol withdrawal often complain of persisting symptoms, such as insomnia, easy startability, and other autonomic symptoms, and difficulty remembering or thinking clearly. In such cases, patient’s may be reasssured that thes