The Cure for Alcoholism: Drink Your Way Sober Without Willpower, Abstinence or Discomfort by Roy Eskapa Ph.D. and David Sinclair

Roy Eskapa, PhD, is a psychotherapist specializing in addiction. He is the author of Bizarre Sex. David Sinclair, PhD, is the chief of prevention and treatment of addictions at the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki, Finland. He has published more than 300 scientific journal articles.

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Dr. Eskapa's important new book explains the quiet revolution that is occurring in our understanding of how people become alcoholics and how to treat alcoholism. To make a long story short, the field of alcoholism research and treatment has been divided into two opposing camps: those who believe that alcoholism is best thought of as a kind of medical illness (for example, AA) and those who believe that alcoholism is best thought of as a learned (very) bad habit (many psychologists). What Dr. Eskapa explains in clear, non-technical language is how new research shows that neither one of these views is completely correct--but that both of them are partly correct! That is, alcoholism is like a disease because certain people are genetically predisposed to become alcoholics. But alcoholism is also a learned behavior--even someone who is genetically predisposed to become an alcoholic will not become an alcoholic if they never try alcohol. This new paradigm is the basis for the cure for alcoholism--a combination of a widely available drug treatment and a behavioral strategy--that is clearly described in Dr. Eskapa's brilliant book. This book argues very convincingly that alcoholics must unlearn their addiction to alcohol, and the best way to do this is by drinking alcohol while they are simultaneously taking a drug that blocks the biological reward system in the brain that underlies addiction; this process of unlearning is called extinction by psychologists. The research from over 70 clinical studies shows that alcoholics can unlearn or reverse their biological addiction by continuing to drink alcohol while simultaneously taking a safe, non-addicting medication to block the jolts of reinforcement in the brain produced by the release of endorphins each time alcohol is consumed. By following this plan - of ALWAYS taking the medication before drinking, craving and actual drinking levels reduce dramatically. In other words, alcoholics can transform themselves into either moderate drinkers or nondrinkers, whichever they prefer. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who suffers from the tragedy of alcoholism--both alcoholics and their families.