You are here

Article Text

Article menu
Download PDFPDF
CASE REPORT
Speaking fluently with baclofen?
  1. Esther Beraha1,
  2. Pieter Bodewits2,
  3. Wim van den Brink3⇑,
  4. Reinout Wiers1
  1. 1 Department of Psychology, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  2. 2 The Home Clinic, Weesp, The Netherlands
  3. 3 Department of Psychiatry, Academical Medical Centre (AMC), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  1. Correspondence to Professor Wim van den Brink, w.vandenbrink{at}amc.uva.nl

Summary

Baclofen is a new and promising pharmacological compound for the treatment of alcohol dependence (AD). Although several randomised trials found a reduction of craving and higher abstinence rates with low and high doses of baclofen, others failed to show positive effects. In this case study, the successful treatment of a patient with AD with daily 120 mg of baclofen is described. In addition to a decrease in alcohol use, we observed the cessation of stuttering during treatment with baclofen, reoccurrence of stuttering following discontinuation, and cessation of stuttering after reinstatement of the treatment. Based on this observation, the direct effects of baclofen on muscle relaxation and anxiety reduction and its indirect effect on dopaminergic inhibition, we believe that baclofen might be a new treatment for stuttering. Further research into the effect of baclofen on stuttering is warranted.

  • Psychiatry
  • Alcohol-related disorders
  • Drugs misuse (including addiction)
  • Pharmacology and therapeutics
  • Therapeutic indications

https://doi.org/10.1136/bcr-2016-218714

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Contributors EB, PB, WvdB and RW contributed to the planning, conception and design of the work, as well as to the acquisition and the interpretation of data.

      EB, PB, WvdB and RW contributed of the drafting of the work and revising it critically for important intellectual content.

      The submitted version is approved by EB, PB, WvdB and RW, and all authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

    • Competing interests I serve as an investigator of a trial of ecopipam in stuttering which is not related to this case report.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.