Alcohol Addiction Info

Journal of Affective Disorders, Vol. 92, No. 2-3. (June 2006), pp. 149-159.BackgroundChocolate consumption has long been associated with enjoyment and pleasure. Popular claims confer on chocolate the properties of being a stimulant, relaxant, euphoriant, aphrodisiac, tonic and antidepressant. The last claim stimulated this review.MethodWe review chocolate’s properties and the principal hypotheses addressing its claimed mood altering propensities. We distinguish between food craving and emotional eating, consider their psycho-physiological underpinnings, and examine the likely ‘positioning’ of any effect of chocolate to each concept.ResultsChocolate can provide its own hedonistic reward by satisfying cravings but, when consumed as a comfort eating or emotional eating strategy, is more likely to be associated with prolongation rather than cessation of a dysphoric mood.LimitationsThis review focuses primarily on clarifying the possibility that, for some people, chocolate consumption may act as an antidepressant self-medication strategy and the processes by which this may occur.ConclusionsAny mood benefits of chocolate consumption are ephemeral.

Nat Rev Neurosci, Vol. 2, No. 10. (October 2001), pp. 695-703.People take addictive drugs to elevate mood, but with repeated use these drugs produce serious unwanted effects, which can include tolerance to some drug effects, sensitization to others, and an adapted state - dependence - which sets the stage for withdrawal symptoms when drug use stops. The most serious consequence of repetitive drug taking, however, is addiction: a persistent state in which compulsive drug use escapes control, even when serious negative consequences ensue. Addiction is characterized by a long-lasting risk of relapse, which is often initiated by exposure to drug-related cues. Substantial progress has been made in understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms of tolerance, dependence and withdrawal, but as yet we understand little of the neural substrates of compulsive drug use and its remarkable persistence. Here we review evidence for the possibility that compulsion and its persistence are based on a pathological usurpation of molecular mechanisms that are normally involved in memory.

Nat Rev Neurosci, Vol. 2, No. 2. (February 2001), pp. 119-128.Studies of human addicts and behavioural studies in rodent models of addiction indicate that key behavioural abnormalities associated with addiction are extremely long lived. So, chronic drug exposure causes stable changes in the brain at the molecular and cellular levels that underlie these behavioural abnormalities. There has been considerable progress in identifying the mechanisms that contribute to long-lived neural and behavioural plasticity related to addiction, including drug-induced changes in gene transcription, in RNA and protein processing, and in synaptic structure. Although the specific changes identified so far are not sufficiently long lasting to account for the nearly permanent changes in behaviour associated with addiction, recent work has pointed to the types of mechanism that could be involved.

There’s a fascinating article that came out today about a vaccine scientists have developed that prevents a drug addicted individual from getting high. Although this vaccine currently targets cocaine, scientists think that this type of vaccine can be expanded and used to address addiction to heroin, methamphetamine, and possibly to cigarettes. Unfortunately, there was no mention about the vaccine working on alcohol addiction at this time.

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Alcohol addiction info from the substance abuse literature shows that this disease eventually progresses to the point that the alcoholic, because of his or her denial of the problem, possesses limited reasoning ability, decision-making ability, and a limited sense of personal responsibility. In short, most chronic alcoholics have a limited, if not a distorted sense of reality. The message is clear to individuals who abuse alcohol but who are not yet alcohol dependent: if you want to avoid the denial and the insanity of alcoholism, get professional alcoholism treatment before it is too late!

Numerous scientific studies have demonstrated that inpatient alcohol detox programs are more effective and longer lasting than outpatient alcohol detoxification programs. The important issue here, nonetheless, is the following: the more extreme and dangerous the alcohol withdrawal symptoms, the higher the probability that inpatient detoxification programs should be employed. Regarding alcohol detox, there is one note of caution: alcohol detox is only one step in the alcohol treatment process. Alcohol detoxification alone does little, if anything that leads to sobriety and alcohol recovery. The point: if you are going to go through the trouble and effort to receive alcohol detox, why not get the appropriate treatment so that you can quit drinking and start on the road to alcohol recovery?

According to a study undertaken in in 2006, among individuals who were twelve years old or older, males were almost twice as likely as females (17.6% versus 9.3%) to drive under the influence alcohol or under the influence of an illegal drug in the past year.

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Many U.S. alcoholism practitioners and researchers believe that chronic alcoholics who are incapable of maintaining their sobriety should receive doctor-prescribed medications to treat their alcohol withdrawal symptoms. There’s another reason underlying these pro-medication viewpoints: by using prescribed drugs, alcohol dependent individuals are less likely to experience possible brain damage and/or seizures.

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If an individual is compulsively seeking and drinking alcohol despite negative consequences such as relationship problems, financial difficulties, employment loss, physical problems brought on by abusive drinking, and family problems, then he or she is more likely than not alcohol addicted. Although the entire negative progression of alcohol addiction is unfortunate, it is especially sad to realize how many people the alcoholic affects as he or she continues the downward spiral that characterizes this disease.

According to the research literature, alcoholism is in part a heritable disease that is often accompanied by antisocial personality disorders, anxiety and mood disorders, as well as by other substance abuse disorders such as smoking and drug abuse. Research findings such as these lend strong support for people who adhere to the theory of the “addictive personality.”

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