Customer Reviews

The Cure for Alcoholism: Drink Your Way Sober Without Willpower, Abstinence or Discomfort

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Dr. Eskapa's important new book explains the quiet revolution that is occurring in our understanding of how people become alcoholics and how to treat alcoholism. To make a long story short, the field of alcoholism research and treatment has been divided into two opposing camps: those who believe that alcoholism is best thought of as a kind of medical illness (for example, AA) and those who believe that alcoholism is best thought of as a learned (very) bad habit (many psychologists). What Dr. Eskapa explains in clear, non-technical language is how new research shows that neither one of these views is completely correct--but that both of them are partly correct! That is, alcoholism is like a disease because certain people are genetically predisposed to become alcoholics. But alcoholism is also a learned behavior--even someone who is genetically predisposed to become an alcoholic will not become an alcoholic if they never try alcohol. This new paradigm is the basis for the cure for alcoholism--a combination of a widely available drug treatment and a behavioral strategy--that is clearly described in Dr. Eskapa's brilliant book.

This book argues very convincingly that alcoholics must unlearn their addiction to alcohol, and the best way to do this is by drinking alcohol while they are simultaneously taking a drug that blocks the biological reward system in the brain that underlies addiction; this process of unlearning is called extinction by psychologists. The research from over 70 clinical studies shows that alcoholics can unlearn or reverse their biological addiction by continuing to drink alcohol while simultaneously taking a safe, non-addicting medication to block the jolts of reinforcement in the brain produced by the release of endorphins each time alcohol is consumed. By following this plan - of ALWAYS taking the medication before drinking, craving and actual drinking levels reduce dramatically. In other words, alcoholics can transform themselves into either moderate drinkers or nondrinkers, whichever they prefer. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who suffers from the tragedy of alcoholism--both alcoholics and their families.

Having had a dear friend who used this method after having tried AA, rehab numerous times, and everything else, let me tell you firsthand, the Sinclair Method works. The Cure for Addiction now means that one doesn't have to travel to Finland for treatment. One doesn't have to abandon life as they know it to endure 30 days of rehab or attend AA meetings; the Sinclair Method integrates into normal life and no one has to know you're on it if you choose to keep it private. The Sinclair Method gave my friend back his life, and all those love him, reason to proselytize it in any way possible.

I wish every health care professional, social worker, psychologist, member of the clergy, and alcoholic or their family could get their hands on this book and try the cure! What hope! What joy! For anyone who knows someone who is in the grip of alcohol addiction and wants their life back this is the book.

The options available to alcoholics up to now have been limited to detoxification and abstinence. There are numerous programs from AA to food and other therapies designed to help people to resist their craving for alcohol but the program outlined in this book (the Sinclair Method) provides a safe medical alternative which will cure the alcoholic of their cravings over a period of time. The irresistible craving for alcohol is both a learned behavior and a disease and this program provides alcoholics with an understanding of how that behavior can be unlearned and the craving extinguished with a safe generic drug. It is difficult to believe that there is a safe effective cure for this debilitating disease available for anyone who wants to get the prescription. It is difficult to believe that all the pain and suffering associated with alcoholism can be a thing of the past. What is not difficult to understand is that when something sounds too good to be true people will doubt that it is true. In order to accept this program people will have to unlearn much that they believe to be true about alcoholism. They will need to unlearn that the only way to treat alcoholism is through abstinence. They will need to unlearn that the only way to overcome a drinking problem is by submitting to a higher power. They will have to unlearn that in order to stay healthy the alcoholic must remain abstinent. What they will have to learn is that as long as the alcoholic is taking his or her medication before they take that first drink they are actually drinking their way to a cure. They will have to learn that this medication can provide a way for the alcoholic to safely and slowly detoxify and reach a point where alcohol is no longer the major focus in their lives.

Dr. Eskapa presents all the information a person needs to get the cure for alcoholism. It is simple and safe. The book is easy to read while providing a logical scientific explanation of why and how the process works. It is well referenced and indexed and useful for alcoholics themselves as well as professionals who work in treatment programs or others in the medical profession.

I will be purchasing additional copies to share with friends and colleagues.

Summary: The National Anxiety Foundation gives Dr. Roy Eskapa an A+ for his superlative book that so clearly and concisely explains Dr Sinclair's enormously effective method for treating alcoholism.

Detail: I am President of the National Anxiety Foundation in the United States. I'm also a clinical psychiatrist with a large private practice, a medical inventor, a clinical professor of Psychiatry at a medical school.

I hope that you will buy this book. I was very skeptical of using naltrexone to treat alcoholism. I tried Revia (naltrexone) years ago with disappointing results. It turns out that American doctors have been misinstructed in how to use naltrexone. I only learned of the general correct way when I met the discoverer of this cure, Dr. David Sinclair of Finland.

David explained how naltrexone should be used to treat alcoholism. I started using it in that manner and, WOW! it made all the difference. I have two failures to eight home runs in my alcohol patients since learning how to correctly use the method.
Roy Eskapa's book explains David's method better than David himself explains his own method (Sorry, David). I learn some new fine point which helps me to provide better clinical care every time I pick up the book. For example, check out page 120 about "Selective Extinction" which David tried his best to explain to me but I just didn't really get it. Roy's explanation of it got me past my confusion. By using selective extinction, it is possible to improve a person's life beyond the miracle of resolving the alcoholism disease horrors. Where there previously existed excessive alcohol behavior, the clinician can shove in its place enjoyment of exercise or some other healthy, socially acceptable and enjoyable activities.

I almost wish the Sinclair Method was harder for patients to undergo or that it didn't work in over 70% of alcoholics. Its Achilles heel is that it sounds too good to be true and people pooh pooh it before they even look into it.

I hope to deliver a presentation of the Sinclair Method to my state medical licensure board. I have physician patients who have run into alcohol overuse and have greatly benefited from this method. I think of this book as "The Sinclair Method of Treating Alcoholism Textbook".

I know that "Naltrexone + Alcohol = Cure" sounds simplistic. But the greatest things are often very simple. "E = mc2" also sounds simplistic. Both took great geniuses to discover.

With all sincerity, I thank, on behalf of mankind, David Sinclair's devotion of his entire professional career to discovering an effective treatment for alcoholism. I put Sinclair on the level of Pasteur. I am sad to see that, as the world was resistant to Pasteur's idea of vaccination, some of the addictive disease treatment movement is quick to dismiss this breakthrough as wrong or ill-advised, conveniently ignoring the evidence such as the Journal of the American Medical Association report showing parity in treatment effectiveness with traditional methods, and the Finnish study showing superiority when used correctly (>70% effectiveness!). I am also sad that years ago, corporations in my opinion may have intentionally or unintentionally misdirected physicians in how to use naltrexone effectively, that is WITH alcohol, not in abstinence.

By bringing this vital correct medical knowledge to clinicians and to the public with your book, Roy, you will have saved more lives than you can possibly imagine doing in your private care of your clients during your entire lifespan.

The National Anxiety Foundation gives Dr. Roy Eskapa an A+ for his superlative book that so clearly and concisely explains Dr Sinclair's enormously effective method for treating alcoholism.

OCTOBER 2011

It has now been 3 years since I wrote this original review on Eskapa's book. The clinical experience I have had in the past three years has been amazingly gratifying. The Sinclair Method (TSM) has worked about 80% of the time. My greatest difficulty in using TSM is not with my alcoholic patient. They are 90% of the time fully cooperative. It is getting the family on board that is sometimes difficult. Understandably, families often are skeptical or worse of TSM in the beginning. I was the same way. "That can't work," I told myself in the beginning. But it does work. It is three times as likely to work as our traditional treatment. And, it is a fraction of the cost. We still need the traditional treatment as TSM does not work for 12% of people. For these reasons I think this should be the first method, the method of choice, used to help alcoholics. If this does not work then use the traditional methods. Not the other way around. Check out the not for profit, National Anxiety Foundation website for a review of TSM.

I have abused alchohol for most of my life. I am in my early 40's now and have been drinking since my early teens. I have tried numerous times to quit drinking, or to cut down on my consumption without any success. I felt like a failure and I knew excessive drinking was not good for my health or my family. I was searching in desperation one day through Amazon for book titles I thought would help me and I came across this book. It has changed my life. I am still drinking, but not uncontrollably. I have a normal glass of wine and don't have the need to polish off the whole bottle. This has not happened to me for many years. The success rate for this method is greater than 75%, if you have a problem with excessive alcohol consumption you owe it to yourself to get this book and try the medication.

OK, so if you're anything like me, you've read maybe hundreds of reviews and probably bought more than one book on how to quit drinking. But after you read those books, all they did was tell you how to think differently, and, hallelujuha, you're cured. But here you are, drinking again and now you're more desperate than ever to find a real cure. You may have almost given up, but I have great news for you - read this book and take a cheap pill - and keep drinking - and you will suddenly find that you no longer crave a drink. Sounds impossible right? Well it's not - THIS ABSOLUTELY WORKS.

This book is indeed 'The Cure'. It describes what I've realized is truly a miracle... it's what the world must hear about, and I'm somewhat saddened that this is not the mainstream method yet. I understand why rehab clinics and others may never want the vast majority of us to hear about this (it's far too cheap and 'idiot-proof'), but 'secrets' like this have a way of getting out.

Don't spend another cent on rehab, self-help books, or even therapy (well, therapy can't hurt, but you don't actually need it). So I'll quit dancing around what you're probably wondering about - if you haven't already read it in other reviews. Basically, as the book describes much more thoroughly, alcohol is a behavior learned by the brain after years of drinking in which endorphins are released within the brain that are bound to opioid receptors. Over time, this is reinforced over and over again until... (drumroll), a human being is addicted to alcohol.

The miracle described by this book is that when naltrexone - a very cheap and accessible drug - is taken one hour before consuming alcohol, a biological process called extinction occurs and reverses the effects of "alcoholism" - and you lose those cravings that may have devastated your life. Within 4 months or so, most people (90% +) find that they no longer crave alcohol. Try getting that kind of success rate in a rehab clinic, where you still have cravings the entire time and you are almost guaranteed to relapse.

I used to drink about 10 drinks or more a night, whether I wanted to or not. Before long after starting Naltrexone as described, I was down to 4 or 5 drinks a few times a week - that alone was a major change in my life. Now, after about 4 months, I drink about once every week or two, 2 or 3 drinks max - I simply can't drink any more and I don't want to. Often I throw away the first drink (impossible before)! I think that at this point for me I'm on the verge of stopping drinking entirely. Even if I never quit completely (not likely), a couple drinks a week or less is a miracle compared to what I used to drink.

Despite all the good intentions of other books, etc, no other resource has been able to remove the alcohol craving for me until this. The science behind this is undeniable. And it describes why no amount of trying to talk yourself out of drinking will produce lasting results.

I hope I haven't oversold this, but I truly think that this book is life and world-changing. When I think of the millions of people who are desperately looking for a way to reverse the grip alcohol has on them, I am saddened that they apparently haven't heard of this yet. But the good news is that you have, and now your future is back in your hands. Welcome back to your life!

I purchased the book in August and began the program first week of September by Thanksgiving I was cured of my cravings. Since Thanksgiving I have only drank three times taking Naltrexone prior to dinking. Each time I was done after two glasses of wine. New Years Eve I attended two parties and did not drink. No cravings whatsoever. I began the program hoping to get control, now I am considering abstinance. I am so grateful for this book. It fulfilled every promise it made.

Dr. Eskapa's work describes a promising new approach to the treatment of one of the oldest and most plaguing problems in medicine and society, i.e., addiction to alcohol. Dr. Eskapa, a clinical psychologist with accomplishments in the area of behavior modification, was inspired to search for an effective treatment for alcoholism by the suffering and eventual early death of a close friend. This tragedy led Dr. Eskapa to "discover" the method of Dr. David Sinclair, a researcher in Finland, who wrote the foreword to this volume. This book describes the Sinclair approach in clear layman's terms. Eskapa has put alcoholism in the context of recent scientific discoveries over the last few decades relating human behavior to receptors in the brain. Many addictive behaviors are dependent on the building up of a common pathway in the brain, related to naturally occurring endorphins activating opioid receptors. These endorphins make us feel good but are dangerous when coupled to alcohol intake in people prone to addiction. They change the "wiring" of the brain, but fortunately this change is reversible based on the new method. Dr. Eskapa covers many aspects of the use of naltrexone for alcohol abuse and explains why it must be taken with alcohol in order to be effective. At first this sounds counterintuitive (that one has to continue drinking somewhat in order to stop drinking), but after reading this book one understands the beautiful logic. The book is written in an easily understandable manner, yet is firmly based on solid scientific information of the highest caliber. This method has the potential to relieve the suffering of countless individuals, and it is important that it be widely publicized. It is not a "commercial" for a product, and the author has made it clear that the patent held by Dr. Sinclair has recently expired. Thus, the main motive behind this writing is to help people overcome the problem faced by Dr. Eskapa's late friend. I recommend the book "The Cure for Alcoholism" for those with an addiction problem and for medical professionals, as well as for those who are simply interested in learning more about how the brain works.

This book is one of those books that could change your life. That is, for many, no exaggeration. For any of you out there who have felt the pain of alcoholism yourself or for another, this book will gently take you by the hand and lead you in a direction that has, up to now, shamefully, been little known.
For those who have tried and failed, watched those you know and love try and fail, felt the guilt of failure and had to share it with others on a daily basis, this could make a difference to you that you could only have ever dreamed of.
Firstly, there is the science. It seems remarkable to me that for so many years there has been a medical treatment for this and other addictions out there that has not only been proven at such incredible success rates, but was available to those who most needed it and couldn't get it. Then there is the method. As "cunning and baffling" as they say alcohol is, this gets right to the heart of the matter, and performs a quadruple bypass.
I truly believe that this is not only a life changing book, but a world changing method that could save the lives of many.
Whilst rehab may be the answer to those who feel they deserve an expensive holiday, this could change that holiday market. This book turns current thinking about alcoholism on its head and allows the already humiliated to take a breath and try something new, without guilt, shame and confession, in the privacy of their own home in an affordable way. If you are one of those unfortunates looking for a higher power, turn your reading light on and get stuck into this.
None of the above is to say that traditional methods of alcohol treatment are wrong for some, but it is a well known fact that they save very few.
I am one of the unfortunates who has tried the lot and failed. Please, I implore you, try this one on for size, the facts say it will fit well over 70% of you.

I bought this book out of sheer desperation to save my family and my marriage. I bought it and read the first few pages and then put it away...it spoke of the alcoholic still being able to drink and it made me mad so I put it away because I wanted my husband to stop drinking period.

Months later when I was cleaning out some drawers in the bedroom I came across the book again and decided to read into it a bit further becasue I was already talking to a divorce attorney and thought is there anything in here to save my marriage of 18 years...when I really started reading I was mad at myself for not reading this sooner.

I am a 46 year old registered nurse with experience working in a chemical dependancey program so I know the heart break I see when people relapse and families break apart beause the alcoholic cannot stop drinking. When I read this book I no longer felt that his family and I were not imortant enough for him to stop drinking but instead knew that his brain was messed up when it came to alcohol and he really could not control it. So I went to my husband and apologized for not understanding...he could not beleive what I was saying. We were preparing for a divorce and now I am apologizing...this book made me understand what he was going through and that he did love his family but he physically could not stop drinking. I decided that we were going to try this medication...Naltrexone. We went to his Doctor and the Doctor said no....he beleives in the abstinence and AA route. This angered me. The Sinclair Method has an 80%-90% success rate as oppose to AA's 10%-15% success rate. I don;t understand how Doctors can give medication to quit smoking but not to help someone quit drinking? Familes don;t break up over smoking, people don't die in accidents because someone smokes too much and then drives.

40 years ago people with depression were told to just get over it or see a shrink and now there are medications for this and that is where alcohol and drug addiciton is today...where depression was 40 years ago. If addcition is a disease and there is a medication to cure it then why not give it? We don't tell diabetics to go to meetings and use will power to control their Blood Sugar so why do we expect this from the addict?

I read the book and did some research and made and appointment with a psychiatrist for my husband and convinced him to give us a 3 month prescription..it was not easy and even though I discussed with him the research results he did not really listen to me and begrudgenly gave us the prescrition and he will probably not refill it. But I have a plan B (below). Doctors are leary of giving a medicaiton and then telling an Alcoholic to keep drinking...it is a liability nightmare. So many people lie to their docotrs and say that they do not drink and then get the medicine...this is what we had to do.

My husband was on it for 1 week following the sinclair method (Natrexone+Alcohol=cure) and noticed a drop in his desire for a drink...this is the honeymoon period and it does not last long and then drinking went back to usual levels. But we are now 2 months into it and he is drinking less, can control his drinking and has had alcohol free days. And even when he does drink he has more clarity of thought...he will not drive drunk becasue he knows that he is drunk. He will not start fights or arguments because he knows that he has had too much to drink and if you live with and alcoholic you know what I mean. He is FAR from cured....in fact the only fault I find with this book is that they worked with people who were problem drinkers at about 35 drinks a week and ones that had not been drinking very long. These people may be cured in 3-4 months but for the hardcore vodka or whiskey drinker...the people who drink 50-100 drinks a week you will not be "cured" in 3-4 months....you are looking at 8 months to a year to be "cured" And when we use the word cured we mean able to controll your drinking...you decide wether or not to drink...not your diseases mind. I learned all of this from the Sinclair method website/support group

So I want to address the person who gave this book a 1 star rating....the study they are talking about is the study perfomed where NAltrexone is used daily with abstinence from alcohol...if you do not drink with naltrexone it will not work...the books goes into detail as why this is the only way to fix the brain...you need then together Naltrexone+Drinking=Cure.

Finding a doctor to prescribe can be difficult but not impossible. Do your research on Naltrexone and the Sinclair method, READ THE BOOK and print these articles and take to your physician to look over

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There is a Sinclair method support web site [...] where people using this support each other during the process which can take months to years but it does work. Give your Doctor the link to this too.....and give him the information and some time to look over it and then ask for him to make a decision and let you know...it is sad that you have to educate your Doctor but as a mother of a special needs daughter I am used to it. There is so much for a Doctor to keep up with in todays medicine and addiction is something that they want to "pawn" off on a specialist...but if a Doctor would prescribe and anti depressant to fix a glitch in the brain he/she can prescribe Naltrexone to fix the addicts's glitch. I have an appointment with another physician that has had some experiance working with addiciton and I am going to present him with all fo this information and ask that he look over it and hopefully take my husband on as a new patient and prescribe Naltrexone. And hopefullt he will take this knowledge and use it with other patients and save other families. But when you introduse something new to a Doctor they are going to need time to look into it...so work with them..."sell" it to them with your knowledge and information.

Also understand that todays society has only been exposed to AA meetings and Abstinenece as treatment for drinking...and Naltrexone has been around since the 60's so the patents are expired and it is now a generic drug which means that no drug company makes $$ on it so it is not presented to Doctos becasue there is no money in it. Also there is alot of money to be made in the rehab industry and if word gets out that a little generic pill can cure this horrible affliction then these multi billion dollar rehab industries will go broke.

I hope that if you or a loved one has an alcohol porblem that you will buy this book and read it...research the medication and do not take no for an answer form your doctor...present the research of the sinclair method because he will only look at the insert which says 3 months is all that is needed...this is not correct...this is not the sinclair method...the sinclair method is life long. Anytime the alcohoilic drinks he has to take a pill...if he does not drink do not take the pill. I read a statistic that 12% of the people that start the sinclair method do so with the goal of controlling their drinking and when it is all said and done 30% are abstinent....because they can be and when they started they never imagined that they could and would choose not to drink. Yes...I said they choose not to drink and there is no craving for it anymore.

Please try this method...it has saved my husband's life and restored my family...we actually go out now as a family and even have a drink with dinner and it is okay...we have fun! No mare sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that he is going to get drunk. He only had 2 beers the other day when he went fishing and in the past that would have been what he drank before even getting into the truck!

I pray that whomever reads this will find success and please know that there is hope!!!!

"Lynn"
you can find me on the sinclair method board!