A number of drugs which act as selective serotonin uptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are on the market for use as antidepressants.
This paper will look at the use of such drugs in the treatment of alcoholism in women. It will look at which of these drugs is the drug of choice, and also at the effects of continued alcohol use when using these drugs, such as prozac.
Alcoholism and anxiety are related in a number of ways (American Family Physician, 1995). Heavy alcohol consumption is common in patients with anxiety disorders, and anxiety is often associated with relapse of heavy drinking. Treatment of anxiety disorder may improve substance abuse problems. This is true also for depression in alcoholism.
A number of advances in the medical treatment of alcoholism in women have been made over the past decade, especially in the field of neurosciences. Research suggests that there are several neurotransmitter systems involved in alcohol-seeking behavior, most predominantly the serotonin, dopamine, opioid, and gama-aminobutyric acid (GABA) systems. Agents that directly or indirectly affect these neurotransmitter receptors appear to influence drinking behavior positively, although to varying degrees (Litten, 1995).
Until the recent approval of naltrexone, disulfiram (Antabuse), a drug that blocks the oxidation of alcohol and produces extremely unpleasant symptoms with alcohol ingestion, was the only medication approved for treatment of alcoholism (Litten, 1995). In recent years, the number of clinical trials of such agents funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has more than tripled.
Studies have shown that naltrexone, previously used to treat heroin addiction, shows promise for reducing both alcohol craving and drinking. Although it is not known exactly how naltrexone works, it appears to block alcohol's activation of endogenous peptides, essentially eliminating the subjectively experie...