Alcohol use disorder generally causes problems in personal relationships, lowers one’s health and affects their emotional state. To be effective, alcohol use disorder treatment includes helping a person by supporting their behavior, finding them resources and assisting with making changes to their way of life.
People who have significant cravings or withdrawal symptoms may benefit a lot from using pharmacotherapy in their treatment. However, treating AUD requires looking at the reasons for addiction and the behaviors that come with it and medicines alone cannot solve these issues.
What Is The Role of Pharmacotherapy in Alcohol Use Disorder?
Medications approved by the FDA are given to help individuals lower or quit their alcohol intake. Most of these drugs are classified into three main types.
- Some drugs such as naltrexone stop alcohol from making a person feel good, making them less likely to want to drink.
- Acamprosate works by restoring the brain’s balance which is lost when a person drinks alcohol frequently and reduces the possibility of relapsing.
- People on disulfiram become nauseous if they drink which discourages them from consuming alcohol.
They are much more helpful when taken in combination with treatment like therapy or joining help groups.
The Upsides of Using Medication in Treating AUD
There are several key benefits to pharmacotherapy which is why it plays an important role in treating alcohol use disorder.
- Using naltrexone, medications can decrease the urge to engage in drug-taking which often causes a relapse.
- Withdrawal management allows addicted people to concentrate on getting better without facing discomfort related to withdrawal.
- Medications like acamprosate keep the brain balanced, making it less probable someone will relapse during the early days of recovery.
- Pharmacotherapy is easy to add to an existing treatment program which makes it suitable for anyone who leads a busy life.
In spite of what pharmacology offers, recovery should still include a range of additional services.
Pharmacotherapy Alone Does Not Always Work
Although medication is very beneficial, only taking medicine to treat AUD does have some shortcomings. These include:
- Behaviors and mental habits cannot be corrected by medication alone. These matters should be dealt with through therapy and counseling.
- Recovery usually involves having strong support from people such as family, friends or groups, whereas medication alone cannot do that.
- Pharmacotherapy often does not help much if the patient does not stick to the prescribed treatment. Using the medication regularly is necessary to keep its benefits.
It is usually necessary to use both medication and various therapies to manage all the aspects of addiction in alcohol use disorder treatment.
Working on the body, mind and relationships in addiction helps a person develop a solid recovery process. Pharmacotherapy alone might not treat alcohol use disorder, yet it adds great strength to a treatment program and aids in recovery.
In case of AUD, the first advice for recovery is to see a professional and experiment with various treatment approaches to avoid alcohol.