Combine study: Field reaction includes acceptance of medication as treatment adjunct.(Clinical report)

The first large-scale randomized controlled study of combined pharmacotherapy with or without additional counseling showed that for many alcoholics, treatment with one medication--oral naltrexone--plus medical management by a health care professional such as a doctor or nurse were just as effective as counseling. This study, reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association May 3 (see ADAW, May 8, May 15), may raise the hackles of some treatment professionals who have helped people recover without medications (or who did so themselves), and who are concerned that their job security might be threatened by a prescription for a pill, instead of for counseling.

 
   Study results: The results of 
   the study show that alcoholism 
   treatment works: whether the 
   study participants received 
   naltrexone, counseling, or 
   both. All had about 75 to 80 
   percent days of abstinence 
   during treatment. After treatment 
   ended, the percent of 
   days abstinent went down, to 
   about 61 to 67 percent, but this 
   was still very positive. Prior to 
   the study, the participants had 
   been drinking an average of 
   12 drinks per drinking day, 9 
   drinks averaged out per day, 
   with 20 …