Combining Treatments for Alcoholism: Why and How?
Margaret E. Mattson, Raye Z. Litten Treatment of alcohol disorders through the use of combinations of pharmacological and behavioral modalities may more effectively address the multicomponent nature of the disorder than single-modality approaches. Interdisciplinary models of the biological, psychological and social components of alcohol disorders are emerging rapidly from basic research, and treatment researchers have begun to test various strategies to combine medications and behavioral treatments. In addition to behavioral and pharmacological combinations, effective treatment pairs can be composed of two medications whose mechanisms of action are believed to be compatible and potentially additive, or even synergistic. Combining Medications and Behavioral Interventions (COMBINE) is a large multisite clinical trial sponsored by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Its goal is to determine if improvements in treatment outcome for alcohol dependence can be achieved by
