Integration of pharmacotherapies in the existing programs for the treatment of alcoholics: an international perspective

Abstract

This review examines current therapies of alcoholism and addresses the difficulties encountered in evaluating the result of integrating pharmaco- and psychosocial treatment of alcoholics. A variety of treatment modalities and goals, and factors influencing admission of alcoholics, exist in different countries creating problems of comparability. Recognition of alcoholism as a separate entity from associated psychiatric co-morbidity coupled with the introduction of specific pharmacotherapies represent a major advance in the treatment of alcoholism. Combining psychosocial and pharmacological treatments appears to be the most effective approach in the treatment of alcoholics. In the future, rational therapy with appropriate choice of treatment strategies will decrease the necessity for hospital treatment of alcoholic patients.