Alcohol & Health
Treatment
Helping Alcoholics
Medically Reviewed by Annamarie Coy, BA, ICPR, MATS
In this article
Unhealthy alcohol use risks your health and safety, leading to other alcohol-related problems. When this occurs, you may have an alcohol use disorder (AUD).
An alcohol addiction problem can range from mild to severe. However, even a mild AUD can escalate and lead to severe problems, so early treatment is essential.
People struggling with an alcohol use disorder (AUD) should seek addiction treatment.
AUD refers to a pattern of alcohol use that involves:1
An AUD also involves consuming more to reach the same effects or having alcohol withdrawal symptoms when you quickly reduce or stop drinking.
Alcohol addiction can lead to cardiovascular and liver disease (such as heart failure, stroke, or hypertension). These can be fatal.
Alcoholism can also cause:
If someone with an AUD takes dangerous risks while drinking, they can also affect others. For example, if they drink and drive, they are more likely to cause an accident.
Nearly all risks involved with alcoholism can be avoidable or treatable with successful long-term recovery.
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Here are the different kinds of alcohol addiction treatments:
Inpatient treatment is one of the most common ways to initiate alcoholism treatment. It involves checking into a rehab center and remaining there for your treatment.
You’ll have access to medical professionals and specialists 24 hours a day. Help will always be available.
Inpatient rehab programs have a fixed schedule. This schedule typically consists of breakfast in the morning, followed by therapies, counseling, and activities for the rest of the day.
A partial hospitalization program (PHP) is an intensive level of outpatient treatment for people with alcoholism. Programs can vary in schedules, but PHPs typically provide at least 20 hours of treatment per week.
PHPs may also function as an ideal outpatient setting for treating people with both alcoholism and mental health issues. An essential feature of many PHPs is that they provide access to intensive medical and psychiatric services when required.
There are many similarities and differences between an inpatient and outpatient rehab program. Outpatient programs aren’t usually as intensive and give a person the freedom to attend work or school while receiving treatment.
Many outpatient programs meet daily for the first several weeks or months of treatment. Afterward, the number of meetings will reduce based on how far someone has recovered.
Outpatient treatment is an excellent option for people with a stable home environment and doesn’t have serious drinking problems. However, outpatient programs aren’t suitable if someone struggles with a long-term drinking problem.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved various medications to treat alcohol and opioid use disorders. MAT medications treat withdrawal symptoms and psychological cravings that lead to chemical imbalances in the body.2
MAT medications are evidence-based treatment options and don’t substitute one drug for another. This treatment combines medications with counseling and behavioral therapies to provide a ‘whole-patient’ approach to treating substance use disorders.
The medications used for MAT include:
Naltrexone blocks the euphoric feelings of alcohol intoxication. The drug allows people with alcoholism to:2
Acamprosate is for people in recovery who aren’t consuming alcohol anymore and want to avoid drinking. The drug helps prevent people from drinking alcohol but doesn’t stop withdrawal symptoms. Acamprosate hasn’t been shown to work in people who continue drinking.2
The use of acamprosate usually begins on the fifth day of quitting drinking. It reaches full effectiveness in 5 to 8 days.
Acamprosate comes in tablet form and is taken three times a day, preferably at the same time each day. Side effects may include:
Disulfiram helps in the treatment of chronic alcoholism. It interferes with the normal breakdown of alcohol, resulting in the buildup of a chemical in the blood that causes unpleasant side effects.
The drug is most effective in those who have been through detox or are in the initial stages of abstinence.2 It is administered in tablet form and taken once a day. Disulfiram should never be taken when intoxicated and shouldn’t be taken for at least 12 hours after drinking.
Side effects may include:
These side effects can occur as soon as 10 minutes after drinking a small amount of alcohol and may persist for an hour or longer.
In severe cases of alcohol withdrawal, detox professionals may provide medications to treat alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Benzodiazepines are a class of sedative medicines used to treat panic and anxiety and control some seizures. These drugs are often the first choice to manage problematic alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Benzodiazepines can significantly lessen the risk of seizures in people suffering from alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Behavioral treatments involve working with a medical professional to identify and help change behaviors contributing to heavy drinking.
These types of alcohol treatments share certain features, including:3
Mutual support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and other 12-step programs are also popular therapies in alcohol addiction treatment. These programs provide peer support for people quitting or reducing their drinking.3
These support groups are often combined with treatment led by health professionals and can offer valuable support.
Addiction treatment can last for various lengths depending on the person and the type of program. Some people believe recovery from AUD or SUD lasts a lifetime.
However, the three most common lengths of rehab programs are:
Everyone has different needs, so there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to addiction treatment. No two people have the same experience with alcoholism.
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There are lots of benefits to quitting alcohol. It reduces the risk of developing many severe alcohol-related diseases, such as:
BetterHelp offers affordable mental health care via phone, video, or live-chat.
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Alcoholism is a severe problem that requires professional help for successful treatment. Various treatments and therapies are available to help individuals struggling with alcohol addiction.
Quitting drinking also offers different health benefits and reduces the risk of severe alcohol-related diseases. You can control your drinking and lead healthier, productive lives with the proper treatment.
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