Despite evidence that supports the efficacy of a number of safe medications to help people manage their drinking, this option is often neglected in a medical setting. Writes The Washington Post:
"Many patients and health-care providers are less likely to be aware that medications can also help treat alcohol use disorder. (That’s the term now used by medical professionals for people with recurrent problems related to drinking.) Three such medications have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. [...]
All three of these drugs have been around for years. (Disulfiram received FDA approval for treating alcoholism in 1951.) And organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism support using these medications to help certain patients. Yet these treatments remain widely underutilized, according to a variety of studies."
Read the full story from The Washington Post here.