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Old 09-26-2014, 01:36 PM
  # 14 (permalink)  
EndGameNYC
EndGame
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: New York, NY
Posts: 4,677
I'm not a medical doctor, and I don't give medical advice. Your doctor is, um, "old school," to say the least. I don't know whether or not this is a cultural thing that's sanctioned in Europe. Nor I'm I completely aware of all the dangers involved in drinking alcohol after taking ten doses of Antabuse but, at the very least, I'd expect some level of physical trauma. Picking up a drink after six sober days also seems counter-productive.

In my field, what your doctor's plan amounts to is known "aversion therapy," that involves linking a simultaneously harmful yet irresistible stimulus (alcohol/drinking alcohol) with an undesirable or uncomfortable/unwanted response. In your case, it would seem that the consequences of drinking while involved in Antabuse therapy -- nausea, vomiting, sweating, palpitations, dizziness and more -- would convince you that it's not a good idea to drink. It's textbook behavioral psychology, but psychology in the hands of non-professionals is a risky business.

Other drugs, such as Vivitrol/naltrexone, are also based on behavioral theory. When it works, naltrexone is supposed to inhibit the pleasurable effects of drinking alcohol. Again, the treatment plan includes continued drinking once the treatment begins until the patient loses his or cravings for alcohol. The theory is that an irresistible stimulus (alcohol/drinking alcohol) is linked with an unrewarding/nonreinforcing response (absence of anticipated pleasure), and that the stimulus (alcohol/drinking alcohol) is therefore extinguished over time.

You might consider getting a second opinion.
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