Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Treat Alcoholism and Depression Together

A new study discovers a treatment regimen combining cognitive-behavioral therapy and medications for depression and alcohol addiction improves clinical outcomes.

Specifically, combining the antidepressant sertraline (Zoloft) with the alcohol dependence treatment naltrexone produced a 54 percent abstinence rate in patients with both major depression and alcohol dependence, whereas the rates were only 21 to 28 percent for patients taking a placebo, sertraline only, or naltrexone only.

This study shows an important advancement in the treatment of patients who live with both alcoholism and depression because the co-occurrence of these disorders is common in clinical practice, yet antidepressants alone are not sufficient for reducing excessive drinking in these patients.

All 170 patients also received cognitive-behavioral therapy, and the four treatment groups all showed clinical reductions in depressive symptoms over the 14-week study, which was conducted by Helen Pettinati, Ph.D., and colleagues of the University of Pennsylvania.

Alcoholism and depression may have a fighting change when treated together.

In addition to a higher abstinence rate, the group receiving combination treatment had a longer interval before resumption of drinking: a median of 61 days compared with 15 days for the other groups combined.

Serious adverse events were actually less frequent in the group receiving both medications, since the most common serious event was hospitalization for detoxification or rehabilitation.

“When depression and alcohol dependence occur together, each condition has a negative influence on the outcome of the other, so not only does this pairing of illnesses affect a lot of patients, it also makes the individual disorders worse,” Dr. Pettinati stated.

“Combining sertraline and naltrexone could be a practical approach for these patients because both have FDA approval.”

The study appears in AJP in Advance , the online advance edition of The American Journal of Psychiatry (AJP), the official journal of the American Psychiatric Association.

Source: American Psychiatric Association

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Alcohol awareness class numbers rise

Students seek dismissal of underage drinking citations A new program offering students the chance to have their first underage drinking citation dismissed has seen an increase in participation. “Within the first six weeks of school, numbers were already up by 45 people,” said University Police Chief Bob Roberts. Offered through West Virginia University’s Carruth Center….

Side effects of cancer treatment

Every person is differently affected with the cancer treatment. Depending on various physical factors, some people may experience fewer side effects while some may not experience any side effects at all. However, it is found that most of the patients feel very sick after or during their treatment process. Usually the doctors do tell their….

Effects of binge drinking linger

Heavy drinking adversely affects a person’s performance and perception hours after alcohol has left the body, researchers in Rhode Island said. Researchers at Brown University recruited 95 healthy adults ages 21 to 35 who had reported having a hangover at least one time within the month before the research began. The participants were randomly assigned….

Alcohol addiction

Alcohol addiction can be described as a compulsive need of toxic liquids. This can be anything containing alcohol wine, beer, whiskey, or vodka. Person is called alcohol addict when, he or she is unable to abstain from drinking. This is very primary stage of alcohol addiction. If person has symptoms like nausea, sweatiness or shaking….

Substance Abuse and Mental Illness – Current Statistics

It is a long-observed conclusion that many people with substance abuse problems also have mental health issues. The debate often rests on whether or not one causes the other and if treatment of one can make the other disappear. This can be a heated topic, as some experts insist on treating both as co-occurring disorders,….