Injectable Naltrexone Treatment of Alcohol Dependence in Serious Mental Illness (SMI)

The proposed project is a 1-year pilot program of research, which will examine the feasibility of a new, intramuscular (IM) long-acting form of naltrexone. The long-acting form of naltrexone may improve medication adherence, which has been shown to be critical to successful naltrexone treatment of alcohol dependence. The study is a 16-week, randomized, prospective, open-label trial, including a 12-week course of monthly naltrexone injections. A follow-up interview will be conducted 4 weeks after discontinuation of medication. Thirty subjects will be recruited. Voucher-based incentives will be provided to all subjects to ensure attendance for medication administration. Weekly motivational counseling sessions will be conducted and will focus on improving motivation to stop alcohol use. Study outcomes consist of self-report and biological measures of alcohol use; measures of psychiatric symptom severity and neurocognitive functioning; and genetic testing to examine functional polymorphism (Asn40Asp) differences in the subjects' μ-opioid receptors (OPRM1), which may predict response to naltrexone treatment.