The role of pharmacotherapy in the treatment of alcoholism.

Drug therapy has a secondary function in the management of patients with alcoholism. The benzodiazepines are the drugs of choice for treating alcohol withdrawal, especially initially, in a high-dose loading technique. The alcohol-sensitizing drugs disulfiram and calcium carbimide may help your patients to maintain abstinence, but full medical assessment of the patient and knowledge of the adverse effects of these drugs is required prior to their use. The management of the disulfiram ethanol reaction is described.