Advances in human neuroimaging have expanded our ability to understand the functioning of the brain, with particular recent advances fostering our analytic capacity to examine networks between the brain’s nerve cells (i.e., neurons) and neuroconnectivity (i.e., neural networks). Relevant to the field of alcoholism, several researchers recently have applied these strategies to groups at genetic...
Search
Neuroplasticity and Predictors of Alcohol Recovery
Recovery from alcoholism is a complex and long-term process with high relapse rates. Therefore, understanding why people relapse has been critically important to improving treatment outcomes. To that end, researchers are looking for clinical and biological markers that predict relapse after treatment and to use those risk factors to develop effective treatments to reduce relapse rates. One...
Treatment of Alcohol Dependence With Drug Antagonists of the Stress Response
Although alcohol dependence affects 4 percent of the adult population and is the third leading cause of preventable death in the United States (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 2009), fewer than 15 percent of people with alcoholism receive treatment (Hasin et al. 2007). The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–Fourth Edition Text Revision (DSM–IV–TR) ...
Women and Alcohol - From the Editors
Recent epidemiological research has identified alarming trends in drinking patterns of girls and women in the United States. In recent years, the amount and frequency of alcohol use are increasing in White and Hispanic girls and young women in contrast to decreasing patterns of heavy alcohol use in boys and young men.1,2 Similarly, current and binge alcohol use is rising among older women,3,4 resu...
Genetic and Environmental Determinants of Stress Responding
The development of alcohol dependence is a complex process influenced by both genetic and environmental risk factors (Prescott and Kendler 1999). The relative contributions of genetic and environmental influences fluctuate across development. During adolescence the initiation of alcohol use is strongly influenced by environmental factors (Dick et al. 2007; Heath et al. 1997; Karvonen 1995...
Forebrain-Midbrain Circuits and Peptides Involved in Hyperalgesia After Chronic Alcohol Exposure
Introduction
Chronic pain increases the risk for development of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Given that acute alcohol consumption can reduce pain, humans sometimes drink alcohol for relief of pain. Chronic alcohol consumption, however, can increase pain sensitivity during withdrawal and facilitate pain sensitization related to comorbid pain conditions.1 Ascending and descending nociceptive...
Co-Occurring Alcohol Use Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - Editor's Note
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic, relapsing brain disease characterized by a reduced ability to stop or control alcohol use despite negative social, work, or health consequences. Often, it co-occurs and interacts with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which may develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event, such as combat, a natural disaster, a car accident, or...
Alcohol Use Disorder and Co-Occurring Mental Health Conditions - From the Editors
This issue of Alcohol Research: Current Reviews (ARCR) delves into studies on co-occurring alcohol use disorder (AUD) and mental health conditions, exploring how this co-occurrence affects symptom severity, prognosis, and outcomes. Increased risk because of co-occurrence, challenges because of disorder heterogeneity, and efficacy of treatment interventions are reviewed.
Among people with AUD...
Author Index
A
Adinoff, B.
Clinical Laboratory Stressors Used to Study Alcohol–Stress Relationships
Vol. 34, No. 4, Pages 459–467
Agrawal, A.
Identifying Genetic Variation for Alcohol Dependence
Vol. 34, No. 3, Pages 274–281
Alim, T.N.
Resilience to Meet the Challenge of Addiction: Psychobiology and Clinical Considerations
Vol. 34, No. 4, Pages 506–515
Ames, G.M.
Prevention in the Military...
Resilience to Meet the Challenge of Addiction: Psychobiology and Clinical Considerations
Evidence from different disciplines suggests that acute and chronic stress–related mechanisms play an important role in both the development and the chronic, relapsing nature of addiction (Baumeister 2003; Baumeister et al. 1994; Brady and Sinha 2005). Stress is defined as the physiological and psychological process resulting from a challenge to homeostasis by any real or perceived demand on the...