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from the Stopping-is-easy...-I've-done-it-many-times! dept.
A new study published by the scientific journal Addiction has found no reliable evidence for using nalmefene, naltrexone, acamprosate, baclofen or topiramate to control drinking in patients with alcohol dependence or alcohol use disorder. At best, some treatments showed low to medium efficacy in reducing drinking, but those findings were from studies with a high risk of bias. None demonstrated any benefit on health outcomes.
The study pooled the results from 32 double-blind randomised controlled trials representing 6,036 patients, published between 1994 and 2015. The studies compared the effects of oral nalmefene (n=9), naltrexone (n=14), acamprosate (n=1), baclofen (n=4) and topimarate (n=4) against placebo.
Many of the studies provided unreliable results due to risk of bias (potential exaggeration of the effects of the drug). Twenty-six studies (81%) showed an unclear or high risk of incomplete outcome data due to the large number of withdrawals. Seventeen studies (53%) showed an unclear or a high risk of selective outcome reporting, as they did not include a protocol registration number, which would allow another researcher to check whether all outcomes were reported.
Clément Palpacuer, et. al. Pharmacologically controlled drinking in the treatment of alcohol dependence or alcohol use disorders: a systematic review with direct and network meta-analyses on nalmefene, naltrexone, acamprosate, baclofen and topiramate. Addiction, 2017; DOI: 10.1111/add.13974
Back to the drawing board.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by tfried on Friday September 22 2017, @11:36AM
I suppose the "finding Jesus"-method might even work, provided you are the type for that. A very powerful way to break up addictions (or habits in general) is to find a strong novel reason, why you will no longer do, what you have been doing for so long. Simply, "I always wanted to stop" is never going to work, because that has been around for a long time, and you have already acted against it many times before.
Some candidates besides religious conversion, would be death or birth in your vicinity, a shocking (and sudden!) medical diagnosis, or a novel medicine (even if it's just a placebo). For getting rid of milder addictions, I have found, personally, that just leaving your familiar surroundings and routine will do a lot to help you break them. Going on holiday is an excellent occasion for such efforts.