Alcoholism Research Paper

Alcoholism Is alcoholism caused by a lack of will power ? Alcoholism is a brain disease that is outside the control of the drinker.

Brain Patterns May Help Predict Relapse Risk for Alcoholism

Distinct patterns of brain activity are linked to greater rates of relapse among alcohol dependent patients in early recovery, a study has found. The research, supported by the National Institutes of Health, may give clues about which people in recovery from alcoholism are most likely to return to drinking. "Reducing the high rate of relapse among people treated for alcohol dependence is a fundamental research issue," said Kenneth R. Warren, Ph.D., acting director
agency for conducting and supporting research on the causes, consequences, prevention, and treatment of alcohol abuse, alcoholism, and alcohol problems. NIAAA also disseminates research findings to general, professional, and academic audiences. Additional alcohol research information and publications are available at http://www.niaaa.nih.gov. About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.
Reference
Disrupted ventromedial prefrontal function, alcohol craving, and subsequent relapse risk. Seo, D, Lacadie CM, Tuit K, Hong K-I, Constable RT, Sinha R. JAMA Psychiatry. 2013 May 1. [Epub ahead of print]
Drugs Help Tailor Alcoholism Treatment

By Douglas
Litten, associate director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "If one drug doesn't work or they can't tolerate it," patients would "try another one and so forth, and hopefully they'll find one that is effective."

Not everyone in the treatment community places stock on medication as a good path to sobriety. Both Alcoholics Anonymous and the Betty Ford Center, for example, have programs that emphasize abstinence, not pills or injections. Some critics say that treating alcoholism with medication amounts to simply substituting one drug for another.

It's a far cry from the days when 12-step programs and self-control were considered the only paths to sobriety. But as doctors have come to view addiction less as a failure of will than as a chronic disease requiring long-term management, like diabetes or high blood pressure, the search has intensified for drugs that can help.

Of the medications currently available, only three have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for treating alcoholism, and of those, only two--naltrexone and acamprosate--actually reduce the cravings to drink. (The third, disulfiram, sold as Antabuse, makes patients sick if they drink alcohol by blocking the body's ability to metabolize