Psychosomatic Medicine 28:667-677 (1966)
© 1966 American Psychosomatic Society

Review and Evaluation of Current Drug Therapies in Alcoholism

¹ Alcoholism Research Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, University of California, Los Angeles, Health Science Center, Los Angeles, Calif.

This article reviews the cunent status of psychotropic drugs in the treatment of alcoholism and discusses the difficulties in assessing any treatment in light of the poor understanding of the condition. Phenothiazine tranquilizers, antidepressants, anorexiants, sedatives, antidipsotropics, and hallucinogens, are discussed through a review of the literature and in reporting present clinical and experimental studies. The phenothiazine tranquilizers, effective in most schizophrenia symptoms, have not been conclusively proved effective in anxious or neurotic patients or for common alcoholic symptoms--except in those few patients suffering from concomitant psychosis. Antidepressants are discussed, as are their possible value in treating some alcoholics during the withdrawal phase. Newer, longer-acting sedatives, such as the benzodiazepines, are evaluated and pharmacological reasons for their popularity are considered. Hallucinogens, enthusiastically endorsed by some as effective treatments for alcoholism but controversial for want of well-controlled studies are also discussed.

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