An essential component of our evidence based Pennsylvania Model of Recovery is the utilization of safe, approved and effective medications that have been shown to effectively improve treatment results.

Medications utilized by Assisted Recovery are not "cures" in themselves but they do level the playing field so to speak.

Currently the anti-alcohol medications recommended by Assisted Recovery include: naltrexone,(ReVia(r), Vivitrol(r), Campral®, ondansetron (Zofran ®) and Topamax®. These medications are available only by a prescription from a licensed physician.


“All I can tell you is, the medications make a huge difference. In fact, I rarely even think about drinking.” -ARCA Client

One of the primary investigators of medication assisted treatment for alcohol dependence is Joseph Volpicelli, MD, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania.

Assisted Recovery Centers of America in Phoenix, AZ, has worked with Dr. Volpicelli to create the treatment protocols what have become known as the Pennsylvania Model of Recovery Protocols.)

He explains that one of the reasons humans like to drink is for the endorphin "high" that alcohol causes. "When you drink, your brain releases these morphine-like compounds called endorphins," he says. "These... create the need to have another drink and cause the pleasurable effects of drinking."


“Management of craving is a new approach to the treatment of addiction, and naltrexone is the best example we have of an anti-craving medication.”
- Dr. Alex Stalcup MD

Opiate antagonists, such as naltrexone, bind to the endorphin receptors in the brain -- the same parts that are stimulated by endorphins -- but do not activate them, Dr. Volpicelli explains. As a result, cravings are reduced, and if the alcoholic drinks, the sense of "high" is greatly reduced -- in some patients, by half.

"When an alcoholic is taking naltrexone, if he doesn't drink, he doesn't feel anything," says Dr. Volpicelli. "But if he does drink, it tastes different in a way he can't describe; it just doesn't hit the spot anymore. He will start sipping the drink and will do something he has never done before: leave the drink on the bar half-empty."

Notably, the idea of treating the symptoms of alcoholism goes against the grain of the Alcoholics Anonymous fellowship. For the more then two million AA members worldwide, there is no such thing as a cure, but an ongoing, lifetime effort to stay sober and to help other alcoholics get sober. In general, the use of naltrexone or other pharmacotherapy treatments is frowned upon in the 12-step AA ethos, which views alcoholism as a spiritual disease requiring the strength for sobriety to come from a "higher power".

Conquering the Craving:
Pharmacotherapies Treat Alcohol Addiction
by Leah Shafer
Rx.com Magazine, 2000
Click here for the full article

Overcoming the enormous hurdle of alcohol addiction usually means a period of white-knuckled craving during which the goal is simple, though not easy: to make it moment-to-moment without a drink. Of the one million Americans treated each year for alcoholism, almost 50 percent start drinking again in the first few months of sobriety. But naltrexone, among a class of medications called opiate antagonists, appears to offer hope to alcoholics and has garnered the attention of the medical community. When compared with a placebo in clinical trials, naltrexone consistently reduced the rate of relapse to heavy drinking as well as the frequency of drinking. Opiate antagonists have been used for more than 20 years to help people kick addictions to drugs such as heroin and morphine. Researchers express excitement about the potential of these medications to treat alcohol addiction as well.

Contact Assisted Recovery today at
(602) 264-7897 or toll free (800) 527-5344