He put alcoholics and nonalcoholics inside an MRI, then showed them photographs of martinis, beer bottles, or glasses of wine. They were also shown pictures of soft drinks and coffee, and a third set of neutral images. In alcoholics, the frontal cortex lights up with desire at the alcohol images. Drugs can help dampen that desire, although no one knows exactly how. An early drug called Antabuse, now little used, made patients sick when they took a drink but didn't kill the craving.
Naltrexone appears to.
Originally used to counteract opiates like heroin, it might work by blocking a pleasurable surge of natural opiates released in the brain by an image or thought of alcohol. He believes he got the drug, not a placebo, because he thought less about drinking the week he took it. Another substance, acamprosate, has shown promising results in Europe. And ondansetron was found to reduce drinking and increase days of abstinence in clinical trials. Yet for now, alcoholism treatment centers are reluctant to prescribe drugs.