Past research has shown that behavioral therapy can produce significant sustained drops in drinking. For two years, Brown researchers worked with colleagues nationwide to design a new psychotherapy to treat alcoholism. Individuals in the study will receive either psychotherapy similar to the kind provided in an HMO-based primary care setting or one comparable to family therapy.
Initial sessions involve patient-physician discussions.
A nurse or psychologist will lead subsequent sessions. The medications involved are naltrexone and acamprosate. Both have been shown to reduce drinking in some patients, but in different ways. FDA-approved for alcohol treatment, naltrexone reduces the craving for alcohol. Acamprosate, approved for alcohol treatment in parts of Europe, but not in the United States, has been shown to lengthen the period of alcohol abstinence.