Keith Williams Studies How Naltrexone Works as a Treatment for Alcohol Dependence

Naltrexone is a drug used to treat alcohol dependence. Unfortunately, researchers don't understand exactly how this drug works. Assistant Professor Keith Williams, of the Department of Psychology, is trying to figure this mystery out. His recent paper Effect of Naltrexone During Extinction of Alcohol-Reinforced Responding and During Repeated Cue-Conditioned Reinstatement Sessions in a Cue Exposure Style Treatment, published in the November 2008 issue of the journal Alcohol (Volume 43, Pages 553-563), suggests that when naltrexone is given during a brief abstinence period it has minimal effects on future alcohol consumption. Williams concludes that naltrexone's "exact role in treating alcoholism needs to be more clearly defined." Although the study was performed on rats, he suggests that "these findings have implications for how the [naltrexone] medication regimen is used to treat human alcoholics." Coauthor Jasmine Schimmel is a former OU undergraduate psychology major. The study was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, which is part of the National Institutes of Health.