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Harvard Mental Health Letter Drug Treatments for Alcoholism President and fellows of Harvard April 2002 , 4 pages This article focuses on and discusses the varied treatments for alcoholism, including antidepressant and antipsychotic medications, detoxification and relapse medications. The author compares the pros and cons of each along with the details and specifications of each. Alcoholic patients who are physically dependent often have to be detoxified - helped through withdrawal to limit their suffering and protect their health. The withdrawal symptoms - tremors, nausea, dry mouth, sweating, numbness, weakness, and depression lasting a few days to a week - can be eased by substituting a safer sedative drug and gradually reducing the dose. The first medication to be introduced in the treatment of alcoholism was disulfiram, otherwise known as Antabuse, which deters drinking by preventing the liver from fully metabolizing alcohol. It suppresses the activity of a crucial enzyme, causing the toxic breakdown product acetaldehyde to accumulate. Anyone who takes disulfiram and takes a drink on the same day is likely to develop some unpleasant symptoms - nausea, flushing, hea