Alcohol use disorder has a complex aetiology, pathogenesis and clinical manifestation in which genetic mechanisms, traumatic histories, social and family context determine the evolution of the disease and the possibility of remission of the same. On the other hand, other pathologies, much more widespread in Western society, diabetes or hypertension for example, share the same etiological complexity, pathogenesis and clinical manifestations. The intervention on these pathologies is certainly pharmacological but not only: it is accompanied by a motivational intervention, continuous counselling to monitor adherence to therapies, often overlapping with a psychoeducational intervention with nutritional as well as behavioural indications (physical activity).
Surely a diabetic or a hypertensive will have a pharmacological prescription in almost all cases; in alcoholology only 30% of patients have a prescribed pharmacological therapy and often these are drugs that do not have a specific indication (anxiolytics, antidepressants etc.)
In short, "alcoholics" are treated, essentially, with a psycho-socio-educational intervention.
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