Post–Acute Withdrawal Syndrome, Relapse Prevention, and Homeopathy

Abstract

Clients coming out of conventional medical detoxification often experience post–acute withdrawal syndrome: symptoms of significant cravings for drugs, as well as mental, emotional, and physical symptoms of protracted withdrawal. These cravings are often the trigger for relapse. This article details a protocol of using Nux vomica, a homeopathic medicine, with three cohorts in two substance abuse treatment settings, with data indicating a positive impact on both immediate symptoms and stabilization in treatment. The immediate benefit is the reduction of frequency and intensity of cravings consistently in all three treatment groups: all participants reported an immediate reduction in cravings. In the first two cohorts, those who chose to use homeopathy completed a six-month substance abuse treatment program at nearly twice the rate of those who did not, and results in the third cohort were also promising. No adverse events were reported. The author concludes that the role of homeopathy for recovery from addiction merits a large-scale formal research study.