“What does a psychiatrist do for alcohol addiction?”

First and foremost, a psychiatrist would work with your medical providers to ensure that there are no medical complications from alcohol use that need to be managed. A psychiatrist would have medication treatment options for alcohol addiction such as Naltrexone or Acamprosate to hopefully prevent the drinking from spiraling out of control. If there are coocurring psychiatric conditions such as depression, those would be treated as well. Most important would be individual and group therapy such as AA.

A psychiatrist can help with medication to prevent / limit withdrawal symptoms and decrease the risk and severity of relapses. A psychiatrist and therapist should also both help to identify some of the underlying factors that let to excessive alcohol use in the first place and help you work through those issues.