Pharmacotherapies for alcoholism: promising agents and clinical issues.
The past 10 years have witnessed important advances in research on pharmacotherapy for alcoholism. Promising drugs are discussed under six headings: agents to treat alcohol withdrawal; anticraving agents; agents that make drinking an aversive experience; agents to alleviate concomitant psychiatric problems; agents to treat concurrent drug abuse; and amethystic ("sobering-up") agents. Research on the drug classes is summarized and clinical issues surrounding specific agents and alcoholism pharmacotherapy in general are discussed. Finally, long-range therapeutic implications of recent findings on the actions of alcohol on basic mechanisms of the brain are offered.
Litten
R Z
RZ
Treatment Research Branch, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Rockville, Maryland 20857.
Allen
J P
JP
D000427:Alcohol Deterrents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D013375:Substance Withdrawal Syndrome / Q000188:drug therapy
D000427:Alcohol Deterrents