There is a medication available for treatment of alcoholism and studies show that it works with those people who have alcoholism in their family and have cravings for alcohol. There are limited medication treatments available for those with a dependence on alcohol and the drug Naltrexone is very effective however it does not work for everyone. Marco Leyton, with McGill University, says this is one of the "few medications approved for treating alcoholism". The results of the study were published in a Science Daily report and show that a large percentage of those battling alcoholism who received stimulation from the drug while drinking alcohol experience "good feelings" such as elation.
Naltrexone works on opioid receptors and because it is specific to those receptors it produces feelings such as exhilaration. Although this certainly isn’t a cure for the disease, the drug may make the person more receptive to treatment and more likely to drink smaller amounts, says Charles P. O’Brien, with the Dept. of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. The medications’ effectiveness may depend on several factors including genetics and gender because of the gene related to the body’s biological "endorphin" system. Leyton and colleagues tested 40 social drinkers, 20 women and 20 men ranging in age from 18 to 50 years old for a period of six days.
Both O’Brien and Leyton agreed that the findings of the study should be used to tailor options for treatment of those individuals dependent on alcohol and Leyton believes if clinicians and researchers collaborate, they can make it easy to predict those who will benefit most from one treatment compared to another in advance. Leyton hopes to identify the "biomarkers" for a more personal approach to specifying medicinal needs of those with alcohol dependence.
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