--- title: Naltrexone for Alcoholism: Making the Case for an Underused Treatment description: There's a drug treatment for alcoholism, but few are taking advantage of it. Naltrexone, which has been used for years to help alcoholics avoid relapsing,... canonical: https://time.com/101047/the-best-help-for-alcoholics-is-one-were-not-using/ author: Alice Park article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-15T15:50:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T07:51:52.995Z article:section: Health og:title: The Best Help for Alcoholics Is One We're Not Using og:description: There's a drug treatment for alcoholism, but few are taking advantage of it. Naltrexone, which has been used for years to help alcoholics avoid relapsing,... og:url: https://time.com/101047/the-best-help-for-alcoholics-is-one-were-not-using/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54cef0b70d88fb42/69868fa13617604d1190c08b/ap130505050_1280.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: AP130505050_1280 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Best Help for Alcoholics Is One We're Not Using twitter:description: There's a drug treatment for alcoholism, but few are taking advantage of it. Naltrexone, which has been used for years to help alcoholics avoid relapsing,... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54cef0b70d88fb42/69868fa13617604d1190c08b/ap130505050_1280.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Best Help for Alcoholics Is One We're Not Using  by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent May 15, 2014 3:50 PM UTC   by [Alice Park](https://time.com/author/alice-park/)  ## Alice Park Senior Correspondent May 15, 2014 3:50 PM UTC There’s a drug treatment for alcoholism, but few are taking advantage of it. Naltrexone, which has been used for years to help alcoholics avoid relapsing, isn’t as widely used as it should be, say some addiction experts. The reason? Many of the studies that show it can be effective in helping alcoholics to avoid returning to drinking have been conducted with those who were also getting behavior therapy and counseling. So it’s hard to know how much the drug is helping to keep these patients sober. But a growing number of doctors are looking at naltrexone not as a cure for alcoholism, but as an ally in helping alcoholics to calm their cravings so behavior therapy and counseling, which equip patients with skills to manage their addictions over the long term, can be more effective. Naltrexone for Alcoholism: Making the Case for an Underused Treatment ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/101047/the-best-help-for-alcoholics-is-one-were-not-using/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/101047/the-best-help-for-alcoholics-is-one-were-not-using/"},"headline":"The Best Help for Alcoholics Is One We're Not Using","datePublished":"2014-05-15T15:50:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:51:52.995Z","description":"There's a drug treatment for alcoholism, but few are taking advantage of it. Naltrexone, which has been used for years to help alcoholics avoid relapsing,...","url":"https://time.com/101047/the-best-help-for-alcoholics-is-one-were-not-using/","keywords":["alcoholism"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54cef0b70d88fb42/69868fa13617604d1190c08b/ap130505050_1280.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alice Park","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/alice-park/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54cef0b70d88fb42/69868fa13617604d1190c08b/ap130505050_1280.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"AP130505050_1280","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/101047/the-best-help-for-alcoholics-is-one-were-not-using/","name":"The Best Help for Alcoholics Is One We're Not Using"}}]}] ```