The use of Naltrexone and/or acamprosate can be helpful during alcohol treatment, however, to achieve the greatest success, individuals would benefit from incorporating psychological intervention. Evidence-based addiction treatment incorporates cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) which enables individuals to learn ways to cope with cravings and eventually have greater success for alcohol recovery. You might also be interested in: Medication Assisted Treatment Naltrexone is an opioid antagonist that blocks the reward effects of alcohol consumption. The mechanism of acamprosate is less well-defined, but it may reduce unpleasant feelings (such as anxiety and tension) during withdrawal by blocking NMDA receptors. Previous research shows that acamprosate increases the number of individuals wh...

Through the use of evidence-based addiction treatment, predictors of drug addiction treatment can be identified. Previous research shows that alcohol-dependent individuals have an increased risk of developing dependence on illicit drugs and prescription drugs. For instance, the National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiologic Survey of 42,862 households in the United States found that individuals with lifetime alcohol use disorders were 9 to 17 times more likely to meet the criteria for a lifetime substance abuse disorder. Studies suggest that approximately half of alcohol-dependent individuals also have substance use disorders. This tends to complicate alcohol rehab and recovery. Thus, it is important to identify predictors of drug addiction among individuals in alcohol rehab so that com...

A non 12 step approach to recovery promotes individuals to continue on to a sober living home after completing inpatient drug or alcohol rehab. While living in sober living homes, individuals can participate in outpatient services where there are opportunities for individuals to receive evidence-based addiction treatment. But do sober living houses help, and just how effective are they? One group of researchers put together a study to answer this question. You might also be interested in: What Will Drug Rehab be Like in 100 Years? Do Sober Living Houses Help? One Study Says Yes. The VH1 television show “Sober House” with Dr. Drew has popularized the concept of sober living houses. However, sober living houses are not just reality TV constructs. California in particular offers a wid...

The relationship between negative affect and addiction is an important consideration when developing a customized treatment plan. Learn more about this relationship as we explore the study below. Previous research shows that children who have a parent with a substance abuse disorder have an elevated risk of developing alcohol and drug addiction problems. Children of alcoholics, for instance, are more likely to experiment with alcohol and drugs at a younger age, compared to children of non-alcoholics. Research shows that negative affect also plays a role in the development of drug and alcohol addiction and should be examined in addiction treatment. The negative affect regulation model posits that individuals use alcohol and drugs to cope with negative affect. The four fundamental comp...

Past research suggests that (self-empowering addiction treatment) cognitive-behavioral therapy is effective in the treatment of alcohol dependence. In some cases, psychological treatment can be significantly improved by pharmacotherapy. Pharmacotherapies used in alcohol treatment include disulfiram, an aldehyde dehydrogenase inhibitor; naltrexone, an opioid antagonist; and acamprosate, a noncompetitive NMDA receptor blocker. Few studies have compared the effectiveness of these pharmacotherapies for alcohol treatment. A team of researchers from Finland set out to do just that (Laaksonen et. al., 2008). You might also be interested in: What is the Best Alcohol Treatment? Effectiveness of Pharmacotherapies for Alcohol Treatment: The Study The researchers conducted a randomized, open l...

Individualized treatment plans are extremely beneficial for adolescents in drug treatment because specific programs can be created to allow adolescents to work through problems of anxiety and depression. In an alternative to AA, individuals can use evidence based addiction treatment plans to reduce anxiety. Adolescent drug treatment and prevention programs tend to focus on illicit drugs and alcohol. However, the misuse of prescription medication is also a major problem among adolescents, especially those who have high levels of anxiety. Researchers at the University of Kentucky, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and University of Michigan employed latent profile analysis to identify three distinct classes of adolescent sedative and anxiolytic misusers (Hall, Howard & M...

German alcohol treatment survey shows that frequency of binge drinking predicts alcohol-related social problems better than volume of alcohol consumed. As an alternative to AA, a self-empowering addiction treatment program allows people to work on eliminating negative outcomes from binge drinking by looking as past drinking patterns. Binge Drinking and Social Problems - What is the Link? Medical, psychological, and social consequences of drinking are related not only to the volume of alcohol consumed but also to patterns of drinking. For example, binge drinking, sometimes referred to as irregular heavy drinking or heavy episodic drinking, has been linked to many negative outcomes. A team of researchers in Germany investigated the combined effect of volume and binge drinking in pred...

In an alternative to AA, self-empowering approaches to recovery incorporate living a sen life. This includes proper nutrition, exercise, and rest. Maintaining good mental health is an important aspect of long term abstinence and nutrition, exercise and adequate rest, play a significant role here. Good health in recovery is an important aspect to achieving a greater quality of life. Link Between Sweet Tooth and Alcohol Treatment - The Study Existing evidence suggests that response to sweet taste reflects the activity of the endogenous opioid system, which is also involved in the pleasure response to alcohol consumption. Response to sweet taste is heritable and can be measured; the phenotype is identified as either sweet-liking (SL) or sweet-disliking (SDL). Naltrexone is an opioid rece...

A non 12 step approach to addiction treatment teaches people to distinguish the difference between positive and negative outcomes related to addictive behavior. Gambling Addiction and Reward Systems - The Study Pathological gambling, or gambling addiction, occurs when recreational activity becomes dysfunctional and detrimental, and many pathological gamblers need addiction treatment to overcome their addictive behavior. Pathological gamblers typically face a variety of cognitive distortions in which they overestimate their chances of winning. Some speculate that the excitement of “near-miss” outcomes in gambling games encourage such cognitive distortions. In a previous study with healthy participants, researchers found that near-miss outcomes in recreational gamblers shared overlappin...

Evidence based addiction treatment takes into consideration the trend between peer delinquency and juvenile drinking behavior. However, there may be underlying issues present with adolescents that correlate with their alcohol consumption and aggressive behavior. Thus, it is imperative that adolescents receive individualized treatment plans during alcohol treatment so that the individual is encouraged to find motivations that are deeper than the addiction. An individualized self- empowering treatment plan enables adolescents to focus primarily on underlying issues that may have been the cause of their drinking and/or engaging in aggressive behavior. You might also be interested in: From Adolescent Drug Experimentation to Addiction Peer Delinquency and Juvenile Drinking Behavior - The...