Naltrexone - Wonder Drug or Hell Maker?

Recently a new wonder drug called Naltrexone has hit the market. It has been said to offer those who are in the grip of alcohol abuse, the ability to abstain from the use of alcohol for the duration of the treatment as it weakens the urge to reach out to the alcohol.  It literally blocks the effects of the opiods and affords the person a life-jacket from their journey into the rough seas of the unstoppable behaviours. It gives the person experiencing their condition enough time to develop clarity, and to review their decision making process, and possibly even get enough help to steel them against future alcohol abuse. 

Apparently, the drug also has a 12 month post treatment effect, that it seems, once this wears off and treatment has stopped, 2 drinks will have the same impact as 10, much like an athlete who takes a drink and feels quite drunk after just one. What is more alarming though, is the data sheet for this product warns the doctor to advise their patients that this drug may cause liver injury!  Herein lies the payload.

While I am all for solutions that work, and I trust my esteemed medical colleagues use this drug responsibly on their patients, its use, is closely monitored and tracked by the health professionals for its impact on the person taking the drug. The thing to bear in mind is that our response to chemical drugs are entirely unique to the individual and subjective in experience, so while the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) may warn of dangers that may have surfaced during drug trials, few people read the warnings on the naltrexone medication pack inserts. 

In treating alcohol abuse, there are many layers that need to be unpacked and traumas that need to be addressed, while providing the social-emotional the client during the use of this drug. While I don't condone or promote the use of the drug, it is my gut feeling that at some point the cessation of the drug will mean that the person doing the substance abuse will have to cope on their own. Hopefully, they have had  enough time to review not only their relationship to alcohol but also to develop enough resources to regulate their nervous systems such that they can control the urge to reach out for a drink to numb out or fill the void. 

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Personally I don't like the use of drugs, any drug, not even a panadol - unless they keep us from certain death, only then do we have to weigh up the risks against the benefits. 

If we were to take an holistic phenomenological approach however, we would look at where in the family system, has there been abuse, neglect or trauma. Also to ask where has the individual developed ineffective coping strategies that now work against them, and the behaviour continues despite their wanting to stop. ​

Its here in the deep listening of the self, the mindfulness of hearing what needs have not been met, and the presence of what support would make a difference, and then how to get those needs met. Working with fundamental beliefs about life, and finding those parts of their lived experience of the world, that need to be separated, and that those that need to be rejoined. For example, rejoining the parts that needed support but got rejected by a dangerous parent, those parts that needed to be separated by an angry or abusively violent alcoholic parent who didn't know how to cope with life himself.  

Only once the client has been resourced and strengthened, the parts of the client's family system separated or joined can the client even begin to think about their healing. No drug can do this. Only you, the person experiencing the behaviour around unstoppable behaviours can hope to really extinguish any future urges because we have worked with the deep subconscious mind, that may have experienced trauma even before we could put words to what was happening to us. ​