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S011-3

Relapse Prevention In Alcoholism – Pharmacological Management

Sujai Subramanian

Aashiana – Psychiatric Care Hospital, India

Background/Objective: Alcoholism is a chronic and often progressive disease that includes
problems controlling your drinking, being preoccupied with alcohol, developing tolerance &
physical dependence and having withdrawal symptoms when you rapidly decrease or stop drinking.

Method: Prevalence rates of alcoholism ranges from 1.1% to 20 % worldwide with a significant
difference between male and female use. Five year change in alcohol per capita consumption has
shown an increase in many Asian countries notably India & China with most developed countries
remaining ‘stable’ as per WHO data for years 2006 to 2011.

Result: The main principles of treatment include:
1. Detoxification
2. Relpase Prevention :
Besides psychosocial interventions, different pharmacological interventions are used to ensure the
individual does not relapse.

Conclusion: A unique situation in Asian population, low income, low general awareness, negligible
medical insurance, disproportionate quality of available medical services, relatively high cost of
psychological services and reasonable cost of high quality medication prompts a situation where
pharmacological agents pay an important role along with some psychosocial interventions.