Alcoholics new effective treatment possible

Main Category: Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs
Article Date: 12 Mar 2004 - 0:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

A key mechanism in how alcohol affects the brain has been identified by scientists at the Scripps Institute, California, USA. The scientists say this will lead to a novel way of treating alcoholism.

When you drink you experience a sensation of pleasure (most people do, anyway). This is because alcohol affects the chemicals in your brain.

The scientists say that the way to treat alcoholics is to block those pleasurable messages in the brain. The result would be, hopefully, that the alcoholic would not want to drink.

Humans, and all animals, are pleasure seekers. If something is nice, we do it - if something is unpleasant we avoid it. If something gives no response (neutral), we tend to ignore it.

You can read about this study in the journal Science.

CRF is a chemical in the brain. This chemical helps control the release of feel-good chemicals. CRF is found all over the brain. It is involved in many emotional reactions and responses, such as stress, anxiety and depression.

Amazingly, the researchers said the when people move from social drinking to alcoholism CRF levels increase in the amygdala (part of the brain).

When nerve cells sense the alcohol they release CRF. The CRF causes the feel-good chemicals to be released.

The scientists used another chemical to stop the effects of CRF. The aim was to stop the feel-good chemicals from being released.

According to the scientists, this could be the first step towards helping alcoholics who find it hard, or impossible to stop drinking.

People have welcomed this news, but some gave a warning. Treating an alcoholic has to be done on two fronts. You have to deal with his/her chemical dependence as well as the social and environmental reasons the person is an alcoholic as well. Another chicken and egg debate.

• Additional
• References
• Citations