Do physicians use pharmacotherapy as part of the protocol for treating alcoholism?
But we do see alcoholism as a benzodiazepine deficiency. . . . And, in my own personal case, 25 years ago I remember leaving a psychiatrist’s office, and I was drinking a bottle of whiskey a day, I had advanced into alcoholism and lost my family, but I was still practising medicine as a specialist. And the psychiatrist gave me the mandatory prescription. As I left his office, he said, “Graeme, if you drink with those pills, one drink will seem like two.” Well, damn it, I have been searching for such pills for years—that is the tragedy of medicine, because we treat chemical difficulties with chemical solutions; it really often does not work. Q: Beyond benzodiazepines, what are the other treatment options? There is quite an exciting development in the last few years where we have medications that can help us to maintain people in the abstinent stage. Science has clearly shown that once we become addicted to a chemical, our brain circuitry changes and changes forever. . . . You will have
