Sleep difficulties can be common in recovering alcoholics. Consequently, trazodone is frequently prescribed to help improve sleep quality. Unfortunately, it has been suggested that taking trazodone can increase the chances of relapse.
To determine whether this drug (also known as Desyrel and Oleptro) can harm alcoholics' chances of recovery, researchers decided to see if there was a link between trazodone use at the time of discharge from a residential alcohol treatment program and relapse after six months.
The study followed 170 patients over the course of a year. Of these, 85 had been taking trazodone at discharge. Researches found there was no link between trazodone use and alcohol relapse.
Good news for recovering addicts who currently take the drug, then. Hopefully we'll see larger studies in the future reach the same conclusion.
Source: The American Journal on Addictions
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Last updated: March 20, 2012
