Alcohol consumption increases the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine into the brain, which creates a pleasurable feeling. The dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) seems to be involved in reward-seeking behavior, and previous research suggests that people who carry a variant of this gene (one that includes seven or more repeats of a certain section of the gene) may be more prone to experiencing cravings caused by drinking cues.

In the study, participants were brought into a makeshift pub and were asked to rate a series of commercials. After rating some commercials, participants were told there would be a 30-minute break and that they could have any alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks at the bar. Those who knew what the study was about (confederates) were told to order alcoholic drinks immediately, and the researchers looked at which participants followed their lead. Saliva samples were also taken from participants for DNA analysis.

The researchers found that when the confederate was seen having three to four alcoholic beverages, participants with the 7-repeat form of the gene drank twice as much alcohol as those without the gene. But when the confederate had only one drink, there was no difference in consumption between those with the gene variant and those without. This suggests that people with the DRD4 variant gene may be more influenced by social drinking cues, which would increase the risk of developing an alcohol-use disorder.

The authors noted that the risk is especially higher for those with the variant gene when spending time with peers who drink heavily.

Sources: Science Daily, Can I Buy You a Drink? Genetics May Determine Sensitivity to Other People’s Drinking Behavior, July 23, 2010

Psych Central, Rick Nauert, PhD, Genetics Influence Drinking Decisions, July 23, 2010

Genes May Determine Susceptibility to Social Drinking Cues is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

In an annually commissioned survey conducted by Australia’s Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation (AER), 1,014 participants were polled on their attitudes regarding alcohol consumption and behaviors. Approximately one of out every three women surveyed (30%) admitted to drinking alcoholic beverages while pregnant or breastfeeding. Most surprisingly, these women still choose to engage in alcohol consumption even though 90% of the survey’s participants agree that drinking while pregnant should be avoided, and 87% agree that drinking should be avoided while breastfeeding.

In response to this new data, Australian health experts are prompting the renewal of health warning labels on the country’s alcoholic beverages. By integrating more informative health advisory statements on all alcohol products, health experts are hoping that this alarming statistic of drinking mothers can be reduced. Prenatal alcohol exposure has the potential to cause Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) which create irreversible mental, physical, and developmental damage to the baby. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and FASD can cause such alcohol-related birth defects as facial deformities, growth deficiencies, lung, heart, and kidney abnormalities, central nervous system impairment, impaired cognitive development, and behavioral disorders. All of these effects are permanent, yet are completely preventable if the woman abstains from alcohol while pregnant. According to AER’s survey, 8% of Australians still find it acceptable to drink in moderation during pregnancy, and 9% believe it is acceptable to drink while breastfeeding. Even though alcohol products are exceptionally hazardous to one’s health, their product information still remains drastically less informative than such average food products as a carton of milk. AER believes that educating the public on the dangers of alcohol consumption should be a priority health concern for Australia.

In the U.S., the Surgeon General advises that pregnant women or women who may become pregnant should completely abstain from alcohol consumption due to the severe potential risks to the fetus. According to the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS), alcohol consumption remains the leading cause of mental retardation and birth defects in the U.S., where 50% of births are unplanned. The U.S. is one of 43 countries worldwide that mandate health warning labels on alcohol products, and one of 14 countries that require a product statement regarding the dangers of alcohol consumption during pregnancy. Even though knowledge of alcohol’s health risks are publicly well known, the inclusion of warning labels directly on alcohol products will provide this crucial information to potential consumers at that critical moment of decision-making. Currently in Australia, alcohol manufacturers are not required to include a health advisory statement on alcohol’s risk of disease or illness on their products, nor are they mandated to list their products’ ingredients. Health officials and the community at large in Australia would prefer to have health warning labels required for such a hazardous product as alcohol, and some are supporting legislation in government to implement mandatory product regulation.

There currently is no national data on the prevalence of FASD in Australia, which causes health experts to believe that the issue has been under-addressed to the general public as well as under-researched. According to AER, FASD is most widespread among undereducated communities, lower-socioeconomic regions, and households that have a lack of health resources. Integrating a health warning label to alcohol products would provide these targeted populations with much needed information to help them make better decisions regarding their families’ health and wellbeing. The rate of FASD costs national economies, like that of the U.S., billions of dollars each year in direct and indirect expenses. The requirement of a health warning label on alcohol products costs virtually nothing extra to manufacture, and the result of healthier families pays itself off. 

One in Three Pregnant or Breastfeeding Women Drink Alcohol in Australia is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

In the 24-page report, WHO said that alcohol was being “marketed through increasingly sophisticated advertising and promotion techniques.” For example, on Facebook, at least 400,000 people “like” Heineken beer, and vodka makers Smirnoff Ice and Absolut are nearing 500,000 fans each. In addition, European youths have been using websites to organize binge-drinking festivals. Last week, a 21-year-old man died in France after an accident at a drinking party organized on Facebook and attended by 10,000 young people.

"Reducing the impact of marketing, particularly on young people and adolescents, is an important consideration in reducing harmful use of alcohol," WHO said in the report, adding that alcohol ads shouldn’t target young people because they can attract underage drinkers.

The Global Alcohol Producers Group (representing Heineken, Diageo, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and others) called the strategy an “important and constructive step forward in helping address alcohol issues around the world,” according to the Associated Press.

Spokeswoman Carol Clark said the Global Alcohol Producers Group would like to work with WHO to curb alcohol abuse, noting that they support minimum age requirements, drunk driving laws, and other optional measures suggested in WHO’s report.

Harmful drinking is the third leading risk factor for disability and premature death in the world, with 2.5 million deaths each year linked to alcohol, WHO said. This figure includes 320,000 people between 15 and 29, and many others develop heart and liver diseases, cancer, and HIV/AIDS because of alcohol abuse.

"Alcohol is the risk factor for many other things," said Dr. Shekhar Saxena, director of WHO’s mental health and substance abuse department. "Usually it is not perceived as the killer, but it is."

In the report, WHO also said that taxes help reduce alcohol abuse. "The more affordable alcohol is … the more it is consumed," they said, calling for minimum prices on drinks and taxes and other pricing policies. "Consumers, including heavy drinkers and young people, are sensitive to changes in the price of drinks."

WHO’s Plan to Help Curb Alcohol Abuse is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

"He just really wants to get better," a source told the magazine. "This has been an ongoing battle for him."

New York Daily News writes that the 32-year-old actor’s latest attempt to get sober follows a RadarOnline.com report that claimed he recently became "belligerent" and "disruptive" when airport staff prohibited him from boarding a flight after noticing he was "pounding drinks" before take off.

The drunken incident, which reportedly occurred at New York’s John F. Kennedy airport in early May, is said to have resulted in the actor getting banned from flying United Airlines in the future.

This isn’t the first trip to rehab for Rhys Meyers, who has had a string of airport-related incidents end in scandal

The actor first checked into rehab for alcohol abuse in May 2005. Seven months after completing a second rehab stint in 2007, the actor was arrested at a Dublin airport and charged with public intoxication and breach of the peace.

He checked into rehab a third time in February 2009 to seek treatment for his addition to alcohol. In June 2009, Rhys Meyers was detained after an alleged drunken assault on several bar employees at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

Actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers Returns to Alcohol Rehab is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

The game, called “Guardian Angel,” works by leading the player through a series of mini games that mimic the choices addicts face leaving rehabilitation. For instance, players begin the game without a job or driver’s license, and must complete objectives such as planning routes around the city without passing a liquor store, or ridding their homes of alcohol and related triggers. The game also includes an emotional component, with a “craving meter” that keeps track of the user’s character’s stress level and state of mind. If those cravings get too high, the player relapses.

The hope, says Dr. Marcia Verduin, one of the UCF professors developing the game, is that players will make these mistakes in the game to see what happens instead of doing it in the real world. Another professor involved with the project said they also wanted to make practicing relapse skills more enjoyable.

Research was set to terminate at the end of April, but has been extended to June, with the possibility of a second research cycle in the fall with a larger sample. The current pool comprises 40 VAMC volunteers. Once research is complete, the professors hope to make the game available for free on the Internet.

Video Game Hopes to Help Recovering Alcoholics Stay Sober is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

This study is a natural extension of Dr. Pagano’s 2004 study, "Helping others in Alcoholics Anonymous and drinking outcomes: Findings from Project MATCH," published in the Journal of Studies on Alcoholism. The study involved 1,726 treatment-seeking alcoholics in Project MATCH. In this study, Dr. Pagano demonstrated that AAH cut the risk of relapse in half in the year following discharge.

"Service was originally conceived by AA co-founders in Ohio to represent one-third of the 12-step recovery program. Many counselors agree that service has diminished over time as an important recovery activity to involve alcoholics in as a method to stay sober," said Dr. Pagano.

With evidence of the salience of service work in sustaining sobriety, Dr. Pagano developed a method to quantify and gauge an alcoholic’s participation level in AAH. In in-depth interviews with AA members with more than 20 years of sobriety, her continued research found AAH to be rated as very important during early recovery as well as in long-term recovery. As a result of the empirical work and qualitative interviews with recovering alcoholics, Dr. Pagano designed a tool that assesses AAH participation, the "Service to Others in Sobriety" (SOS) tool.

"The SOS measures the degree to which an alcoholic is giving service as a good citizen of AA, such as being the coffee maker or door greeter," said Dr. Pagano. "It also measures service activity in sharing recovery experience, strength and hope with fellow sufferers."

Both concrete acts of service and personal sharing appear important in living sober as reported in the study. Individuals were asked to report how often in the past month they participated in common AAH activities. The responses ranged from "rarely" to "always." SOS items were then summed to form a total score ranging from 12-60.

"Service activities measured by the SOS are free, accessible, available to all patients regardless of education, gender, or racial background, and can be encouraged right from the start," said Dr. Pagano. "The SOS tool provides a snapshot of a patient’s participation in AAH, a clinical threshold associated with sustained sobriety, and concrete service activities encouraged as part of the 12-step program of recovery."

Dr. Pagano validated the SOS using a sample of 301 treatment-seeking alcoholics. Interviewed three years following treatment, alcoholics reported low AAH participation (i.e., SOS items rated "never" or "rarely") in taking calls or spending time with a sponsor (66%), guiding another through the 12-steps (59%), and holding a service position (53%).

In contrast, the most common forms of AAH endorsed (i.e., SOS items rated "often" or "always") were putting away chairs after a meeting (75%), encouraging a newly sober alcoholic to go to a meeting (72%), and donating money to a 12-step organization (63%).

Findings demonstrated adequate psychometric properties of the SOS, including convergent validity, internal consistent (alpha=0.92) and test-rest reliability (r=0.94).

With a recent three-year grant award from the John Templeton Foundation, Dr. Pagano is extending prior work with adults to include adolescents suffering from the disease of addiction.

This study was funded by the National Institute of Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse.

Gauging an Alcoholic’s Level of Engagement in AA is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Sarah Netter of ABCNews.com writes that soldiers are now seeking treatment in record numbers, according to new figures put out by the Army. Nearly 9,200 soldiers sought treatment for alcohol abuse in 2009, a 56 percent increase since the war in Iraq started. Another 11,892 were required to undergo "alcohol education,” a 16-to-20-hour course for soldiers who were disciplined for an alcohol-related incident, but not found to have an actual abuse problem.

"There has always been a healthy work-hard, play-hard ethos to the military," Tom Tarantino, legislative director for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association, told ABCNews.com. "It can turn very quickly over from being recreational to a problem."

Army officials say 85 percent of the soldiers who seek outpatient substance abuse treatment are there because of alcohol. The Army is now in the midst of a nationwide search for additional counselors in an effort to reduce the wait time for help from days down to hours. There is currently one counselor for every 2,000 soldiers.

"I don’t necessarily think they pay enough attention until it’s too late," said Brian, a three-tour Fort Hood area soldier who is more than two years sober and on temporary disability from the Army with traumatic brain injury and other extensive combat-related medical problems. Brian said it was the realization that his career in the military was over that prompted him to get treatment. "I realized I wasn’t ever going to have a job that was going to enable me to drink like in the military," he said.

Brian signed up for the Army nearly 12 years ago, and said he began drinking heavily after his first deployment to Iraq in 2003. Involved in four separate bomb attacks in that one tour, he “started drinking heavily to mask the pain.”

"Every night it was a minimum of a 12-pack, up to 24," he said. "I stayed at home, would sit and drink until 10 ‘o clock. I’d drink until my body shut down."

By Brian’s third tour in 2005, he was drinking the "near beers" you could buy on base that smelled like the real thing and had a very low alcohol content. He’d also get real beer in care packages from friends and family that didn’t realize he was addicted.

His soldiers would sometimes smell the alcohol on him, but Brian said he’d always have an excuse.

When a potential fourth tour raised questions about his physical ability to lead his command—he’d had multiple shoulder surgeries and had mesh implanted in his abdomen—Brian was put into the Army’s Warrior Transition Unit for injured soldiers. That’s where he realized he had to stop drinking. He called his wife and told her he was going to get treatment. He later found out she’d already been planning to take the children and leave him.

Tarantino, a retired Army captain, said stories like Brian’s drive home the need for more attention to combat-related mental health issues.

"Alcohol abuse is a symptom of the larger problem. It is not the larger problem," he said. "There is a stigma with saying ‘I need help.’ We’re all taught to be strong and macho and we can lift the world on our shoulders."

Bayas’ problems with alcohol went back years, even before he deployed to Iraq.
His attorney, Miguel Villalba, said Bayas, 36, had curbed his drinking after two DUI arrests in the 1990s, while he was in the Army.

But after pulling his best friend’s body out of an exploded tank on his first tour in Iraq in 2004 and going through a divorce after he got home, he started drinking again. And, his lawyers argued, it was no secret he had a problem. Looking at his 18-year military record, "his alcohol issue was never really addressed."

"That he had a drinking problem was known to the world," Villalba said. "And this was happening at a time when he was being given all kinds of commendations."

The drunk-driving accident that killed the 19-year-old college student happened just 10 days after Bayas got back from Iraq. He plowed through her car, which was stopped for a red light, going 60 mph without ever slowing down.

When police on scene asked him where he was headed, Villalba said, Bayas responded, "I was on my way to get my men. I was in Iraq. I was on my way to get my men."

His lawyer said Bayas was not diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder until after his arrest. He pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charge.

"He accepted full responsibility for it," Villalba said. "The effects of what has happened have been ravaging" for Bayas and the victim’s family.

The majority of the soldiers seeking counseling for alcohol abuse are 18 to 25 years old.
Army spokesman Hank Minitrez told ABCNews.com that they are trying to do better with reaching the young soldiers earlier.

"For many, shipping out for the Army is the first time away from home for our young soldiers, so they are experimenting with life so to speak," Minitrez wrote in an e-mail. "We are also dealing with younger brains that have not fully developed their executive functions — that little guy on our shoulder that says, ‘Don’t do it!’"
Gary Klozenbucher, clinical director of the Army Substance Abuse Program at Fort Riley in Kansas, told ABCNews.com that most of the soldiers they see in treatment are in the early stages of their addiction.

Some come in scared after being referred by a commander, he said. Others are defiant and insist they have their drinking under control. While many come in with a mix of substance abuse issues, alcohol is "absolutely" the most prevalent.

But Klozenbucher wasn’t convinced that deployments create alcohol problems.
"The majority of the time, the soldiers that we are seeing that have identified as having alcohol and drug problems after a deployment, most of those soldiers have had some history prior to the deployment," he said. "As far as the development of a drug problem, that can play a major role in the progression of the addiction."

He did concur, however, that alcohol abuse can be a catalyst for a host of other problems seen in Fort Riley soldiers, including legal, financial and domestic issues.

"Certainly we’re seeing those problems with our soldiers," Klozenbucher said. "There are a strong relationships with drug and alcohol problems."

Experts—both current Army employees and veterans—ay the difference between today’s soldiers and previous generations is that alcohol is viewed as more of a problem rather than a bonding experience.

"Back when I was in the Army, back in the 1970s and ’80s, we assumed drinking was mandatory," joked Larry Scott, an Army veteran and founder of vawatchdog.org, which keeps tabs on programs and news about the Army and Veterans Affairs. "Really don’t recall too many people who didn’t drink."

Scott even remembered a commander in Korea once pleading with his soldiers to try and keep it to two on-duty drinks at lunch.

"Drinking was as big a problem then as it is now. It just wasn’t as highlighted," he said. "I would say they’re moving in the right direction."

More Army Soldiers Seeking Treatment for Alcoholism is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

Mr. Griffin has been practicing Buddhism since1996 and travels the country providing lectures, workshops, classes, and retreats for the public as a means of recovery outreach, education, and meditation training. In his 2004 book, One Breath at a Time: Buddhism and the Twelve Steps, Mr. Griffin relates his own experiences dealing with alcohol dependency and substance abuse and how he found release and recovery not only through deepening his understanding of Buddhism practice, but also through 12-step programs.

According to Griffin, the spiritual aspect of 12-step programs may turn off some people who tend to have a nihilistic view of life and desire instant gratification. The idea of embracing a higher power may seem unrealistic to these individuals, and as a consequence, they may not discover the relief from their addiction that a 12-step program otherwise could have provided them. Griffin offers an alternate way to view the spiritual and religious context of 12-step programs by discussing his own success with recovery through meditation and the Buddhist practice.

As Griffin describes, the Buddha taught that one’s suffering is caused by desiring the things we do not have—and realistically, can never have. There is no way to prevent such universal processes as aging, death, illness, or loss, and the hold that the disease of alcoholism (or substance addiction) can have over an individual is one of these unpreventable processes. One is powerless to the force of addiction (the pinnacle of desire), but he or she does have power over his or her own choices and actions, a concept which Griffin says will lead addicts to the path of recovery.

The Buddha, Griffin explains, emphasizes finding peace within one’s self instead of outside the self. Griffin states, “We are powerless over the disease of alcoholism and the effects of alcohol, but we are not powerless over whether we pick up a drink or not. The Buddha was empathetic on the point that we are responsible moment to moment for our words and actions, not just victims of destiny or hidden forces; we have an element of free will.” Griffin also believes that learning meditation skills can help anyone, whether one is dependent on a substance or not.

Griffin’s latest book, A Burning Desire: Dharma, God, and the Path to Recovery, further delves into embracing a higher power in order to progress through the 12 steps. Griffin illustrates how one may find peace and effective strategies for recovery, not by choosing one of the extremes of either atheism or worship of a Supreme Being, but rather by choosing “the Middle Way” as taught in Buddhist practice. Griffin will discuss the messages of his two books as well as the 11th step: Finding the will, knowledge, and consciousness to sustain the strength needed to overcome by means of prayer and meditation.

For more information on Kevin Griffin, visit his website at http://www.kevingriffin.net/newsite/index.htm. For more information on these events, contact Writers In Treatment at (818) 762-0461 or call Against the Stream Meditation Center at (323) 665-4300.

What if the Buddha Were an Alcoholic? is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment

The Associated Press reports that the 78-year-old actor was arraigned Monday on several charges after spending the weekend in a police holding cell near his hometown of Salisbury, in northwestern Connecticut.

Torn, who did not enter a plea, was released on $100,000 bond a few hours later. He smiled and wished onlookers a nice day but did not answer questions about the arrest.

He is expected to enter an alcohol rehabilitation center in New York as early as Tuesday, according to his attorney.

Torn was given probation last year in a Connecticut drunken driving case and allowed to enter an alcohol education program. He completed the first stage of that program. He also has two previous drunken driving arrests in New York.

"The history here is clear that there’s an alcohol issue that needs to be addressed," his attorney, A. Thomas Waterfall, told Bantam Superior Court Judge John W. Pickard on Monday.

The "Men in Black" actor is accused of breaking into the Litchfield Bancorp branch through a window Friday night in Salisbury, where officers responding to an alarm found him wandering in the lobby and nearly incoherent.

According to court records, Torn was disoriented, reeked of alcohol, and asked the state police troopers repeatedly why they were taking him out of his home.

"Obviously, he wasn’t there intending to commit a crime, in my estimation," Waterfall said.

Officers found a loaded .22-caliber revolver in Torn’s pocket, according to court records, and a breath test showed his blood-alcohol content as 0.203 percent—more than twice the 0.08 legal limit for driving in Connecticut.

Torn is being charged with criminal trespass, carrying a gun without a permit, carrying a gun while intoxicated, burglary, and criminal mischief. His case was transferred to a court in Litchfield that handles more serious cases because of the weapons charges.

He remembers nothing of that night, Waterfall said Monday after the arraignment.

"He’s a very nice person, a very friendly individual. Obviously this is a serious event, so we will deal with it as we go on," Waterfall said.

Torn never brandished the weapon when the officers confronted him, according to Waterfall and the court records, and has no history of violence. His permit to carry a firearm in Connecticut had expired in October 2007.

The actor, whose real name is Elmore Rual Torn, has appeared on the television show "30 Rock" and won an Emmy in 1996 for his work on "The Larry Sanders Show." In addition to "Men in Black," his recent movie credits include "The Insider" and "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story."
Torn is scheduled to return to Litchfield Superior Court on Feb. 17.

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The researchers, from the university’s Midwest Alcoholism Research Center, say the finding could aid the development of therapies for alcohol dependence by offering suggestions for targeted treatments based on genetic traits and history of exposure to severe stressors.

Scientists estimate that about half the risk for alcoholism is encoded in a person’s genes. The rest comes from environmental factors, such as age at first drink and exposure to extreme stress. Other research has suggested that when the environmental risk factors occur during key periods of brain development, genes and environment working together can increase the likelihood an individual will become alcohol dependent. Child sexual abuse is one of the environmental stressors that can interact with genes to significantly increase the risk for alcohol problems.

But the researchers report in the January issue of Addiction Biology that people with a particular pattern of genetic markers seem to be protected against alcohol problems, even if they were sexually abused as children.

Those who were protected carry a set of genetic variations that scientists call the H2 haplotype. Similar to a blood type, a haplotype is more than just a single genetic mutation. It is a normally occurring pattern of gene variants that are statistically associated with one another so that when scientists find a few genetic markers, they can successfully predict what other genetic variations will occur within a particular region of DNA.

"We looked at how genes and environment interact," says Elliot C. Nelson, M.D., lead author of the study. "Our analysis included both sexual abuse and information about the DNA region that carries the H2 haplotype. People who carry that genetic pattern were protected against the risks for alcohol consumption and alcohol dependence typically associated with sexual abuse."

Other sexual abuse victims in the study had the alternate genetic pattern known as the H1 haplotype. Those individuals had three times the risk of heavy drinking and alcohol dependence as those who had not been sexually abused.

"They drank much more alcohol and had a significantly greater risk for problems," says Nelson, an associate professor of psychiatry. "But abuse victims with the H2 haplotype seemed to be completely protected against those risks."

Nelson’s team studied data from more than 1,100 people in 476 Australian families who participated in the Nicotine Addiction Genetics project. Originally, that study was set up to learn about nicotine addiction, but investigators also looked at related problems, including how much alcohol people drank and whether they met the diagnostic criteria for alcohol dependence.

Study subjects also were asked about sexual abuse in childhood. A total of 121 women and 35 men reported a history of sexual abuse beginning at around age 11. Nelson’s group also had access to DNA samples from those evaluated in this study.
By identifying a handful of specific sites in the genome, it’s possible to classify a person as having either the H1 or the H2 haplotype. One of the genes in the DNA region included in H1 and H2 is called corticotropin releasing hormone receptor type 1 (CRHR1). Nelson’s group is focusing on that gene, which research in animals has implicated in risk for alcohol dependence.

Many past studies have focused on genes related to alcohol metabolism, but CRHR1 is not a metabolism gene. Nelson says it appears from animal studies, however, that the gene may be involved in risks associated with the effects of environmental stress. In the case of humans, he suspects variants of the gene may play a role in protecting against stresses caused by child sexual abuse.

"There are many different ways an individual can become alcoholic, some involving heavy genetic risks, some involving specific environmental factors, such as exposure to peers who drink heavily," Nelson says. "This particular pathway involving CRHR1 is interesting because it seems to play an extremely important role in animal models of alcohol consumption and dependence."

He says better understanding of how the gene works may help scientists understand the process by which people become alcoholics. As they attempt to clarify the possible role of the CRHR1 gene in protecting sexual abuse survivors from alcohol dependence, Nelson says it may be interesting to look at other severe environmental stressors that trigger alcohol use to see whether people with the H2 variation also are protected from those forms of risk.

In addition, he says drugs have been developed that block CRHR1 receptors. If it turns out that humans are responding to the same stressors and reacting via the same genetic pathway that animals do, Nelson says some of those drugs may be able to help people who are alcoholic using the same pathway that protects people with the H2 haplotype.

This study was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health, the ABMRF/Foundation for Alcohol Research and the Australian NHMRC Fellowship Scheme.

Research Examines Link between Sexual Abuse and Alcohol Dependence is a post from: Drug Addiction Treatment