Title

Shall We Make a Leap-of-Faith to Disulfiram (Antabuse)?

Document Type

Review

Publication Date

1-1-2004

Description

It has long been known although only relatively recently acknowledged openly in our psychiatric literature that substance abuse is a medical issue more similar than different, more like than unlike, other more readily recognized medical issues such as diabetes and malignancy. That being said dare we ask, "Where exactly do we go from here?" If we were asked, "Has chemical aversion pharmacotherapy been available for a long time-perhaps many decades," we would be obliged to respond truthfully, "Yes!" Further if we were asked, "Is chemical aversion pharmacotherapy significantly expensive and costly," we would be obliged to respond truthfully, "No!" Finally if we were asked, "Then what is our rationale why chemical aversion pharmacotherapy is perhaps somewhat frowned upon (not in vogue, lacking a certain element of enthusiasm on the part of therapists and clients alike) these days," we would be obliged to hesitate-perhaps with an element of uncertainty-prior to venturing forth with a response. The purpose of this paper is to endeavor to formulate a reason d'etre for consideration of chemical aversion pharmacotherapy with disulfiram (Antabuse) in our carefully selected chemically (alcohol) dependent clients (patients).

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