Alcoholic patients' experience and attitudes on pharmacotherapy for alcoholism

Clinical studies have demonstrated that pharmacotherapies may improve alcoholism treatment, when combined with traditional psychosocial therapies. Recently, the opioid antagonist, naltrexone, has been approved as an adjunct in alcoholism treatment, and several other pharmacotherapies for alcoholism are under development. Because of the abstinence orientation of many patients, we assessed attitudes regarding medications, and explored whether alcoholic patients would consider taking medication as part of their alcoholism treatment. Active patients (n = 127) in three alcohol treatment settings were surveyed with an anonymous questionnaire which asked demographics, personal alcoholism history and questions about medication use. They were asked whether they felt disulfiram and naltrexone were helpful for alcoholics and whether they would take the medications. The findings indicate that the patients were divided about the use of pharmacotherapy for the treatment of alcoholism. The strongest predictor of willingness to take medication was a belief that the medication would be helpful.