Study Design: This will be a double-blind, placebo controlled comparison of the efficacy of twice daily intranasal administration of oxytocin and placebo (saline) in reducing alcohol withdrawal symptoms, the number of bouts of withdrawal during which symptoms are of sufficient magnitude requiring prn lorazepam treatment (see definitions below) and the amount of lorazepam required to resolve withdrawal bouts. Treatment group assignment will be random within each sex. Subjects will be patients admitted to (University of North Carolina (UNC) Hospitals or the Dix Clinical Research Unit (CRU) for medical detoxification. Each treatment group will be composed of up to 40 subjects. Dr. Hamer, the study statistician, will construct a randomization plan to randomize 80 subjects to 2 groups of 40 subjects each with a blocksize of 4. This will be a permuted blocksize as this is a blind study.