COMBINE – An Effective Treatment for Alcoholism? | San Diego Therapist, Couples Counseling & Therapy

February 14, 2012 Posted by Sage Therapy Center in Therapist Blog

COMBINE – An Effective Treatment for Alcoholism?

Most people seeking help on dealing with alcohol abuse typically expect a San Diego therapist to recommend them to enroll in the classic twelve-steps program provided by Alcoholics Anonymous. However, we would like to point out that studies carried out between 2010 and 2011 have shown that the most efficient treatment method for alcoholism is a combination of behavioral therapy and medication. The paper, also known as the COMBINE study, was carried out on a representative sample of 1383 declared alcoholics and the conclusions were drawn after 20 counseling sessions. In addition to the counseling sessions with the behavioral specialist, the participants were taking prescribed drugs, namely naltrexone.

A short list of COMBINE’s findings

One of the most important discoveries of the researchers during the study was that the participants had considerably reduced the consumption of alcohol during treatment. As the study indicates, approximately 75% of the participants had reduced the consumption of alcoholic beverages from 66 to 13 per week. According to the researchers, these amazing results were possible due to naltrexone, a drug that reduced the overall craving for alcohol.

Another interesting finding of the study is that medical management combined with either naltrexone or specialized alcohol counseling doubled the complete recovery chances of the patients. As a side note, the concept of medical management refers to nine brief structured outpatient interventions provided by a medical professional. Compared to the regular alcohol dependence interventions, the medical management is more intense and some medical professionals even relate it to the importance of insulin therapy for diabetes patients.

When the patients were tested one year later, it was shown that the return to heavy drinking for the participants had dropped drastically. In short, more than half of the participants were abstinent and the best outcomes in patients were observed on those who received naltrexone or specialized alcohol counseling and medical management.

What do the results mean to alcoholics and therapists?

The findings of the study are of great importance to both behavioral therapists and primary care physicians involved in alcohol addiction treatment.

As the study showed, now therapists and doctors have a viable method of addressing this dependency without the use of drugs. At the same time, specialized alcohol counseling can be suggested as a treatment method for patients who refuse any kind of pharmaceutical treatments. Even though naltrexone can help reduce the cravings, essentially it only provides a small advantage, mostly to the patients who did not receive any counseling.

The idea of brief interventions and various therapies borrowed from other fields is relatively new. However, the intensive clinical research undertake in the past 15 years seems to indicate that the outcomes in alcoholic patients are more prolific and reduce the risks associated with heavy alcohol consumption. For the patient, this means he has several choices of addressing his problem and a higher chance of recovery. For the medical world, this opens up a new perspective regarding specialties and the importance of various professionals, such as a San Diego therapist, physician, counselor and others to collaborate.

Do Introverts Need To Be Cured?Whom To Turn To If Your Child Has Autism?