Alcohol Use Disorder News and Research

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Researchers find a key brain region for controlling binge drinking

A team of National Institutes of Health-funded researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina has found that deactivating a stress-signaling system in a brain area known for motivation and emotion-related behaviors decreases binge drinking.

17 Apr 2020

Alcoholics Anonymous the best way to abstain

Researchers from the Stanford School of Medicine have found that utilizing the help of a support group like Alcoholics Anonymous could be the best possible way for those with alcohol dependence to abstain. This finding came from a review article titled "Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12‐step programs for alcohol use disorder," published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Review.

11 Mar 2020

Alcoholics Anonymous found to be very effective for achieving alcohol abstinence

Alcoholics Anonymous, the worldwide fellowship of sobriety seekers, is the most effective path to abstinence, according to a comprehensive analysis conducted by a Stanford School of Medicine researcher and his collaborators.

11 Mar 2020

Alcoholics Anonymous and 12-step programs help people with AUD achieve sobriety

Newly updated evidence published in the Cochrane Library today compares Alcoholics Anonymous and clinically-related Twelve-Step Facilitation programs with other treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, to see if they help people who suffer from alcohol use disorders achieve sobriety or reduce the amount of alcohol that they consume.

11 Mar 2020

How effective is Gabapentin in alcohol use disorder?

A new study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine in March 2020 reports the striking efficacy of the drug gabapentin in helping people with alcohol use disorder (AUD) with their alcohol withdrawal symptoms.

9 Mar 2020

Relapse is common for bariatric surgery patients who quit smoking

Although 1 in 7 adults smoke cigarettes the year prior to undergoing weight-loss surgery, nearly all successfully quit at least a month before their operation.

23 Feb 2020

Factors that may contribute to elevated risk of alcohol use disorder in adolescence

Alcohol misuse is common among adolescents, and increases the risk of developing a chronic alcohol use disorder in the future.

18 Feb 2020

VTC scientists study new approach to help people with alcohol use disorder

People with alcohol use disorder know that when it comes to immediate satisfaction, nothing works quicker than liquor.

18 Feb 2020

Bariatric surgeries may change patients' sensitivity to and absorption of alcohol

A new study of 55 women found that two of the most popular forms of bariatric surgery - Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy - may dramatically change patients' sensitivity to and absorption of alcohol.

14 Feb 2020

Family history of alcoholism affects how your brain transitions between active and resting states

You don't have to be a drinker for your brain to be affected by alcoholism.

10 Feb 2020

Key predictors for combination of alcohol use disorder and depression uncovered

For people with psychiatric disorders, comorbidity — or the presence of two or more disorders in a single patient — is quite common. One of the most common comorbidities is alcohol use disorder and major depressive disorder.

28 Jan 2020

Scurvy is still found in Canada

Scurvy, the debilitating condition remembered as a disease of pirates, is still found in Canada.

18 Jan 2020

American women drinking more, and dying much more often, as a result

A new study released by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reports a horrifying 85% increase in deaths among women related to the use of alcohol. To put this in concrete terms, about 7,600 women died this way in 1999, but 18 years later, in 2017, the number was over 18,000. Not only is alcohol claiming the lives of more women, but women tend to be harmed more by this substance, in the form of higher rates of cancer and heart disease.

13 Jan 2020

Study assesses variation in 'maturing out' of alcohol use in young adulthood

Rates of heavy drinking and alcohol use disorder peak in the late adolescent and early adult age-group (19-25 years), before decreasing from around age 26.

12 Jan 2020

Loss of stress hormone is a hallmark of pancreatitis, shows study

In work that could have clinical implications, UT Southwestern researchers find that humans and mice with pancreatitis are deficient in a stress hormone called FGF21.

9 Jan 2020

Study provides insight into brain mechanisms underlying compulsive drinking

Compulsive drinking may be due to dysfunction in a specific brain pathway that normally helps keep drinking in check. The results are reported in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

18 Dec 2019

Non-drug therapies may reduce adverse outcomes in service members with chronic pain

A new study based on Veterans Affairs health records finds that non-drug therapies given to military service members with chronic pain may reduce the risk of long-term adverse outcomes, such as alcohol and drug disorder and self-induced injuries, including suicide attempts.

11 Dec 2019

Findings could lead to new approach to treating alcohol use disorder

A single infusion of ketamine, combined with outpatient behavioral therapy, helped alcohol-dependent individuals abstain from drinking for a few weeks after the treatment, researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and New York State Psychiatric Institute have found.

4 Dec 2019

Distress tolerance amplifies links between PTSD symptoms, alcohol use severity among firefighters

New findings by a University of Houston psychology professor indicate that among firefighters, distress tolerance amplifies associations between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and alcohol use severity. In the world of psychology, distress tolerance is your actual or perceived ability to withstand emotional distress. It is surviving - and knowing you can survive - an emotional incident.

3 Dec 2019

Young-onset drinking predicts hospitalization for alcohol intoxication among adolescents

In studies, younger age at first alcohol use has been associated with later alcohol problems in adult life, including heavy drinking and alcohol use disorder.

29 Nov 2019