Until the end of last summer, I was a very heavy drinker, greater than 200 units per month.

I started naltrexone, but was not on board with that mentally, although my intake decreased to about 20% of what it had been.

2 1/2 months ago, I added some moderation management techniques, and hypnotism for alcohol reduction

Now I'm drinking approximately 15 units per month, only several times a week, always taking the naltrexone, and I'm finding it becomes easier each day, rarely thinking about alcohol, and almost never having urges.

I did notice this however, that until I understood that I really needed to change, my mind was going to rebel against that. My wife was a huge help in that regard, but the bottom line was I had to decide for myself. That took about six months, despite taking the naltrexone.

The benefits have been enormous, and are so substantial, that returning to a life of drinking is completely out of the question.

The amount of resources available, that simply discuss commonsense ways to manage drinking, and use your head about it, are fantastic.

A little more:

The naltrexone alone simply wasn't working, but once I added some behavioral therapy, hypnpsis and some searching as to why I was drinking in the first place, everything clicked, and suddenly I was able to manage the problem significantly better.

Apparently the general feeling of the Sinclair method is that further counseling is not necessary,.

Since this is a multi-factorial problem to begin with, trying to solve it only with a pill that extinguishes the desire is really not getting to the root of the problem nor is it teaching the alcohol user any understanding of the real nature of the problem.

I know this is something that needs to be gotten under control, and I simply found that therapy beyond just taking the pill was hugely successful in my case. I wouldn't say I am cured, but I think I now have the resources to deal with this in a coherent and same fashion.

BTW, the beauty of this approach is that you retain power over your life, you are not diseased or addicted, and you wake up each day feeling good about yourself.

FWIW, my own belief is that TSM snaps the chain of active addiction -- which frees us to address the underlying problems.

I'm not sure there is such a thing as a "general feeling of the Sinclair method." We're just individual people.

I completely agree with you, snapping the chains of addiction, and getting my head clear so I could finally deal with the problems was what it took.

I didn't see the big picture until I finally got out of the fog of heavy alcohol use.

12 step program was advised to me back last year, and because it sounded wrong for me, I searched and other alternatives and found the naltrexone, which I had never even heard of, but which would ended up being extremely helpful.

I will say though, it took six months, before it was clear what I needed to do to get this under control. It certainly was not a quick process.