Drug and Alcohol Findings home page in a new window EFFECTIVENESS BANK BULLETIN 10 June 2012

The entries below are our accounts of documents collected by Drug and Alcohol Findings as relevant to improving outcomes from drug or alcohol interventions in the UK. The original documents were not published by Findings; click on the Titles to obtain copies. Free reprints may also be available from the authors. If displayed, click prepared e-mail to adapt the pre-prepared e-mail message or compose your own message. The Summary is intended to convey the findings and views expressed in the document. Below may be a commentary from Drug and Alcohol Findings.


Contents

Disulfiram (Antabuse) – unfashionable but effective alcohol treatment

Approved by the USA as an alcohol treatment in 1951, disulfiram has suffered from a reputation as a dangerous medication only suitable for highly motivated and strictly supervised drinkers who totally avoid alcohol, and therefore too the aversive physical reactions the drug causes after drinking. But experience has shown that at currently recommended doses it is acceptably safe and, in the right circumstances, a drug chosen and taken by many severely dependent drinkers seeking to sustain abstinence. Stimulated by the first systematic synthesis of research (first entry below), this bulletin focuses on new and seminal disulfiram research from the UK and overseas available in the Effectiveness Bank. This work both shows that it can be an effective aid for many drinkers, and also exemplifies its key weakness - that without the right support and motivation, most patients simply stop taking or never take the tablets.

Threat of aversive disulfiram reaction does deter drinking ...

Disulfiram as post-detoxification norm rather than niche option ...

Danish patients just stop taking the tablets ...

Major UK trial finds supervised disulfiram cuts drinking ...

Landmark US study suggests compliance is the key to disulfiram treatment (PDF download) ...