| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Feb | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
Pages
Categories
Predictors of heavy drinking and drinking problems over the first 4 years of marriage.
Psychol Addict Behav. 2008 Mar; 22(1): 25-35Leonard KE, Homish GGThis study investigated the factors predictive of heavy drinking and drinking problems over the early years of marriage, focusing on premarital drinking and the relatively stable individual risk and protective factors that were present prior to marriage and on social-interpersonal factors that may change or emerge over marriage. Newlywed couples were assessed at the time of marriage and at the 1st, 2nd, and 4th anniversaries with respect to frequency of heavy drinking and the extent of drinking problems and a variety of factors that have been found to be predictive of adult alcohol problems. The results indicated that antisocial characteristics, family history of alcoholism, negative affect, and alcohol expectancies were related to heavy drinking and alcohol problems at the time of marriage. Changes after marriage were predicted by the drinking of one’s partner and of one’s peers and by alcohol expectancies for social/physical pleasure for both men and women. In addition, the quality of the marriage was longitudinally protective from the experience of alcohol problems for both men and women, although it was not related to changes in heavy drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).
Ethnic differences in level of response to alcohol between chinese americans and korean americans.
J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2008 Mar; 69(2): 227-34Duranceaux NC, Schuckit MA, Luczak SE, Eng MY, Carr LG, Wall TLABSTRACT. Objective: Koreans have higher rates of alcohol-use disorders and family history of alcoholism, compared with Chinese. These differences likely reflect both environmental and genetic influences. One genetically influenced characteristic that may contribute to these ethnic differences is level of response to alcohol. Variant alleles of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH1B) genes are prevalent in individuals of Asian heritage and have been associated with an increased level of response to alcohol and a decreased risk for alcohol dependence. Additionally, a low level of response to alcohol is more common in individuals with a first-degree family history of alcoholism and is predictive of increased risk for this disorder. It also is possible that sociocultural factors have an impact on an individual’s response to alcohol. The current study examined self-report level of response to alcohol, ALDH2 and ADH1B, country of origin, and family history of alcoholism in 154 Chinese- and 181 Korean-American college students. Method: Participants were evaluated via in-person interviews and genotyped at the ALDH2 and ADH1B loci. Results: Ethnicity was significantly related to level of response to alcohol, with Koreans having a lower self-reported level of response than Chinese. This relationship remained significant after considering the effects of gender, height, weight, quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption (over the previous 90 days), ALDH2 genotype, ADH1B genotype, country of origin, and first-degree family history of alcohol dependence. Conclusions: The results suggest that a low level of response to alcohol may contribute to the increased risk for alcohol abuse and dependence found in Koreans, relative to Chinese. More research is needed to determine additional factors that may be contributing to the low alcohol response and high rates of alcoholism in Koreans. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs 69: 227-234, 2008).
Affective circuitry and risk for alcoholism in late adolescence: differences in frontostriatal responses between vulnerable and resilient children of alcoholic parents.
Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2008 Mar; 32(3): 414-26Heitzeg MM, Nigg JT, Yau WY, Zubieta JK, Zucker RABACKGROUND: Children of alcoholics (COAs) are at elevated risk for alcohol use disorders (AUD), yet not all COAs will develop AUD. The 2 primary aims of this study were to identify neural activation mechanisms that may mark protection or vulnerability to AUD in COAs and to map the same activation patterns in relation to risk behavior (externalizing or internalizing behavior). METHODS: Twenty-two adolescent COAs were recruited from an ongoing community longitudinal study of alcoholic and matched control families. They were categorized as either vulnerable (n = 11) or resilient (n = 11) based on the level of problem drinking over the course of adolescence. Six other adolescents with no parental history of alcoholism, and no evidence of their own problem drinking were recruited from the same study and labeled as low-risk controls. Valenced words were presented to the participants in a passive viewing task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Activation to negative versus neutral words and positive versus neutral words were compared between groups. Behavior problems were assessed with the Youth Self-Report (YSR). RESULTS: The resilient COA group had more activation of the orbital frontal gyrus (OFG), bilaterally, and left insula/putamen than the control and vulnerable groups, in response to emotional stimuli. In contrast, the vulnerable group had more activation of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and less activation of the ventral striatum and extended amygdala, bilaterally, to emotional stimuli than the control and resilient groups. The vulnerable group had more externalizing behaviors which correlated with increased dorsomedial prefrontal activation and decreased ventral striatal and extended amygdala activation. CONCLUSIONS: These results are consistent with dissociable patterns of neural activation underlying risk and resiliency in COAs. We propose that the pattern observed in the resilient COAs represents an active emotional monitoring function, which may be a protective factor in this group. On the other hand, the vulnerable group displayed a pattern consistent with active suppression of affective responses, perhaps resulting in the inability to engage adaptively with emotional stimuli.
Novel pharmacotherapies for alcoholism.
CNS Spectr. 2000 Feb; 5(2): 10Hollander E
Alcoholism: a disorder with a past.
CNS Spectr. 2000 Feb; 5(2): 21Farren CK
Opioid antagonists and alcoholism treatment.
CNS Spectr. 2000 Feb; 5(2): 49-57Swift RMThe increasing evidence for a neurobiologic basis for alcoholism has spurred the search for pharmacologic agents to treat alcohol abuse. The complex set of symptoms and behaviors that characterizes alcoholism has been linked to dopaminergic and opioid neurotransmitter systems, suggesting that opioid antagonists, such as naltrexone, may alter the positive reinforcement effects and craving involved in alcoholism. Laboratory and clinical investigations of naltrexone have demonstrated the potential for this agent to reduce craving, increase the aversive effects of alcohol, decrease drinking days, and increase abstinence. While naltrexone and other opioid antagonists, such as nalmefene, may be effective components of an alcohol-treatment program, they should only be used in combination with psychosocial interventions, such as support groups and psychotherapy.
Combination pharmacotherapy in alcoholism: a novel treatment approach.
CNS Spectr. 2000 Feb; 5(2): 70-6Farren CK, Rezvani AH, Overstreet D, O’Malley SCombination pharmacotherapy has proven effective in a number of psychiatric disorders, including depression and schizophrenia. However, compared with other affective disorders, few studies have explored the use of combination therapy in alcoholism, and the majority have been limited to animal models. There is evidence to support a role for combination therapy in alcoholism. For example, several neurochemical systems, including the dopaminergic, serotonergic, and opioidergic, appear to affect alcohol intake. Studies in several different types of alcohol-preferring rats have suggested that coadministration of agents to target more than one of these systems simultaneously may produce beneficial effects on alcohol intake, while avoiding problematic effects, such as alterations in food or water intake. Data from preliminary clinical studies have shown trends toward combination therapy reducing alcohol intake in humans. While such findings are encouraging, they must be explored further in larger, randomized, double-blind trials.
Sleep disturbance in psychiatric disorders: effects on function and quality of life in mood disorders, alcoholism, and schizophrenia.
Ann Clin Psychiatry. 2008 Jan-Mar; 20(1): 39-46Krystal AD, Thakur M, Roth TIntroduction. While the precise role of sleep in maintaining optimal health and function remains unknown, it is clear that disturbances of sleep have a profound impact on the lives of affected individuals. In psychiatric disorders, not only is there a relationship between sleep disturbances and impaired function, problems with sleep also appear to affect the course of the disorder. Methods. We carried out a literature review of sleep studies in mood disorders, alcoholism and schizophrenia to determine how associated alterations in sleep architecture and disturbances of sleep are related to patient function and quality of life, and the course of these disorders. Results. The literature speaks to the need to address sleep problems in the overall management of mood disorders, alcoholism and schizophrenia. The support for this viewpoint is best established for mood disorders. There is also relatively strong support for treatment in alcoholism. Schizophrenia, however, has received scant attention and the literature suggests a need for more studies in this area. Conclusions. Further research is needed into the treatment of co-morbid insomnia and psychiatric disorders. Successful therapy is more likely to be achieved if the sleep difficulty and co-morbid disorder are simultaneously targeted for treatment.
Outpatient Long-term Intensive Therapy for Alcoholics (OLITA): a successful biopsychosocial approach to the treatment of alcoholism.
Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2007; 9(4): 399-412Krampe H, Stawicki S, Hoehe MR, Ehrenreich HAlcohol dependence is a frequent, chronic, relapsing, and incurable disease with enormous societal costs. Thus, alcoholism therapy and research into its outcome are of major importance for public health. The present article will: (i) give a brief overview of the epidemiology, pathogenesis, and treatment outcomes of alcohol dependence; (ii) introduce the basic principles of outpatient long-term therapy of alcohol-dependent patients; and (iii) discuss in detail process-outcome research on Outpatient Long-term Intensive Therapy for Alcoholics (OLITA). This successful biopsychosocial approach to the treatment of alcoholism shows a 9-year abstinence rate of over 50%, a re-employment rate of 60%, and a dramatic recovery from comorbid depression, anxiety disorders, and physical sequelae. The outcome data are empirically based on treatment processes that have proven high predictive validity and give concrete information about where to focus the therapeutic efforts. Thus, process-outcome research on OLITA can serve for the development of new therapeutic guidelines on adapting individual relapse prevention strategies.
Therapeutic options and challenges for substances of abuse.
Dialogues Clin Neurosci. 2007; 9(4): 431-45Gardner TJ, Kosten TRAddiction to substances continues to be a significant public health concern in the United States. The following review of current pharmacological treatments discusses a range of substances: nicotine, alcohol, cocaine, and opioids. The goal is to provide an overview of currently available and new pharmacological treatments for substance use disorders, while also addressing the pharmacotherapeutic challenges remaining. The significant advances in pharmacotherapy have had limited utilization, however. For example, naltrexone for alcoholism is infrequently prescribed, buprenorphine for opiates still has relatively few qualified prescribers, and stimulants have no Food and Drug Administration-approved pharmacotherapy. These pharmacotherapies are needed, with the rate of even the relatively uncommon abuse of opiates now rising sharply.
Recent Posts
- Predictors of heavy drinking and drinking problems over the first 4 years of marriage.
- Ethnic differences in level of response to alcohol between chinese americans and korean americans.
- Affective circuitry and risk for alcoholism in late adolescence: differences in frontostriatal responses between vulnerable and resilient children of alcoholic parents.
- Novel pharmacotherapies for alcoholism.
- Alcoholism: a disorder with a past.