There is a need for safe medications that can effectively support recovery by treating symptoms of protracted abstinence in alcoholics that may precipitate relapse e.g., craving and disturbances in sleep and mood.
This proof-of-concept study reports on the effectiveness of gabapentin 1200 mg for attenuating these symptoms in a non treatment-seeking sample of cue-reactive, alcohol-dependent individuals.
Subjects were 33 paid volunteers with current DSM-IV alcohol dependence and a strength of craving rating 1σ or greater for alcohol than water cues. Subjects were randomly assigned to gabapentin or placebo for 1-week and then participated in a within-subjects trial where each was exposed to standardized sets of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant visual stimuli followed by alcohol or water cues.
We found a significant attenuating effect of gabapentin (vs. placebo) on several measures of subjective craving for alcohol as well as for affectively-evoked craving. Gabapentin was also found to significantly improve several measures of sleep quality. Side effects were minimal, and gabapentin effects were not found to resemble any major classes of abused drugs.
Results suggest that gabapentin may be effective for treating the protracted abstinence phase in alcohol dependence and, hence, that a randomized clinical trial would be an appropriate next step.
The study also suggests the value of cue reactivity studies as proof-of-concept screens for potential anti relapse drugs.
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