Alcoholism is a disease with a biochemical and/or molecular (genetic) basis.
Many thanks, Professor Justyna Klingemann!
Bluntly, is there an alternative and/or complEment to attending AA meeting?
Period!
I am looking for an alternative and/or complement to AA and/or its philosophy!
Period!
Rational Recovery.
SMART Recovery (Self Management for Addiction Recovery).
For SMART Recovery, you can look at http://www.smartrecovery.org. They are international, and they have daily meetings face-to-face and online. Their methods break the habit of addiction through behavior and thought management, and understanding and maintaining one's own desire for abstinence. They draw heavily on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).
Their website gives their meeting schedules: http://www.smartrecovery.org/meetings_db/view/
In some locations, you can attend meetings face-to-face several times a week. There are also online meetings.
Many thanks!
However, it is also a support strategy and/or technique!
Oh - so you're looking for something not a support system? Have you heard or Antabuse or Naltraxone?
I'm not a psychopharmacologist. So keep that in mind. My experience is with people on these medications.
Antabuse - In laymen's terms, Antabuse (disulfiram) makes you allergic to alcohol. It's a pill you take daily (though its affects can last a couple days) that changes your response to alcohol: you get really really sick. Like, vomiting not-able-to-leave-the-bathroom kind of sick. It's a totally unpleasant experience.
You take this in the morning, generally, when your willpower is at its strongest. You can say, "I will not take a drink today." Many times, people tell themselves that but by evening, their willpower weakens and they break their word. With Antabuse, they know that drinking will make them really sick and not give them the response they want from alcohol. This convinces them not to drink.
Some people take it every day for years. Others take it long enough to get the habit of not drinking, then take it as they feel they need to (maybe not taking it during the week but taking it before going out with friends on a weekend night).
This increased sensitivity to alcohol can give you problems with cold medicine, food cooked in wine, vinegar, hair dye, paint fumes etc.
Naltrexone: This drug blocks the effect of alcohol. It's also used to treat narcotic addiction. Drinking alcohol does not give you the drunk high you are craving. So there's no benefit in drinking. You have no reward for the habit. Again, though, there can be problems with cold medicine and other medicines. It's something you take every day.
Campral (acamprosate): Once someone has quit drinking, this reduces cravings for alcohol.
These drugs reinforce the choice not to drink by letting you make the choice when your will power is high, and later you can't change your mind. Support groups, therapy, etc. are still recommended when using these drugs.
I don't know of any drugs like these that can be injected or that last for more than a few days or a week. These are meant to be taken daily and regularly. They can be relatively short term or they can be taken for years - depends on the patient, the supervising doctor, etc.
Again: I'm not a medical doctor or a pharmacist or anything like that. Look up more detailed drug effects on a website like drugs.com. This information is based on what I have seen in addicts who have used these medications and my interpretation of websites like drugs.com.
Many thanks Doctor Janine Wonnacott!
Didn't know about the drug treatment of alcoholism!
However, once took antabuse and drank with no side effect!