Alcoholism - Treatment for Alcohol Withdrawal

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After-Care and Work Therapy. After-care uses services to help maintain sobriety. For example, in some cities, sober-living houses provide residences for people who are trying to stay sober. They do not offer formal treatment services, but the people living there offer each other support and maintain an abstinent environment.

Factors That Predict Success or Failure after Treatment

About 25% of people are continuously abstinent following treatment, and another 10% use alcohol moderately and without problems. Relapse is common and intensive and prolonged treatment is important for successful recovery, whether the patient is treated within or outside a treatment center.

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Treating People Who Have Both Alcoholism and Health Problems

Severe alcoholism is often complicated by the presence of serious medical illnesses. People with alcoholism should try at least to maintain a healthy diet and take vitamin supplements. Such deficiencies are a major cause of health problems in people with alcoholism. Women are particularly at risk.

Treating People Who Have Both Alcoholism and Mental Illness

Treatment for patients with both alcoholism and mental illness is particularly difficult. The greater the psychiatric distress a person is experiencing, the more the person is tempted to drink, particularly in negative situations.

There has been some concern that self-help programs such as AA are not effective for patients with dual diagnoses of mental illness and alcoholism because they focus on addiction, not psychiatric problems. Studies, however, have reported that they can also help many of these patients. (AA may not be as helpful for people with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.)

Antidepressants or anti-anxiety medication may help people contending with depression or anxiety disorders. However, in general, these types of medications should be prescribed with caution as they may interact with alcohol. In particular, patients who are currently drinking should never take monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOIs) antidepressants as alcohol can trigger a dangerous spike in blood pressure. People with alcoholism and more severe problems such as schizophrenia or severe bipolar disorder may require other types of medications.

Review Date: 01/13/2011
Reviewed By: Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).