Spurred by her own grief and frustration she wasted little time. She put aside her work running the office for a small construction company her boyfriend owns. The program includes up to a year of twice-weekly counseling sessions to teach alcoholics to adjust to a sober life. Naltrexone works by reconditioning brain chemistry so that alcoholics are less likely to want to drink, Volpicelli said. When they drink, their brain releases endorphins.
Naltrexone blocks the endorphin receptors in the brain, blocking their craving.
Still, Assisted Recovery stresses abstinence. And it stresses the drug is not a cure, Vacovsky said. If they don't believe that then we're whistling Dixie in recovery. Along with the original site, Assisted Recovery has a site in Tucson operated by a therapist who heard about the Phoenix program. A site in St. Louis is operated by a former DuPont executive who was frustrated by the company's failure to promote the drug, Vacovsky said.