In Volpicelli's view, a pill alone won't help an addict. But without medication, he says, neither will psychotherapy and social support. If you have three legs, you have a good foundation. Volpicelli feels so strongly that naltrexone works well only in combination with psychosocial treatment that, with the support of the national alcohol research community, he successfully urged the FDA to approve naltrexone only as an adjunct to conventional treatments. But it is essential that recovering alcoholics also undergo a comprehensive treatment program which helps them cope with the social, legal, family, physical, and psychological problems that occur as a result of their drinking behavior.
Naltrexone is taken orally once a day.
Its most common side effects, reported in approximately 10 percent of patients, are nausea, difficulty in sleeping, anxiety, nervousness, abdominal pain or cramps, vomiting, low energy, joint and muscle pain, and headaches. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, which funded the Penn and Yale studies, is supporting nine clinical trials to determine the patient type, dose, therapy combinations, and treatment duration with which naltrexone works best. He is also studying the effects of giving naltrexone to people at risk for alcoholism because of their family history. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, alcohol abuse and dependence affect about 15.3 million adult Americans and approximately 38 percent of adult Americans have experienced alcoholism or alcohol abuse in their families. The immediate physical effects of alcohol include decreased motor coordination and respiratory capacity.