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With NIAAA’s support, scientists at medical centers and universities
throughout the country are studying alcoholism. The goal of this
research is to develop better ways of treating and preventing alcohol
problems. Today, NIAAA funds approximately 90 percent of all alcoholism
research in the United States. Some of the more exciting investigations
focus on the causes, consequences, treatment, and prevention of
alcoholism:
• Genetics: Alcoholism is a complex disease. Therefore,
there are likely to be many genes involved in increasing a person’s
risk for alcoholism. Scientists are searching for these genes,
and have found areas on chromosomes where they are probably located.
Powerful new techniques may permit researchers to identify and
measure the specific contribution of each gene to the complex
behaviors associated with heavy drinking. This research will provide
the basis for new medications to treat alcohol-related problems.
• Treatment: NIAAA-supported researchers have made considerable
progress in evaluating commonly used therapies and in developing
new types of therapies to treat alcohol-related problems. One
large-scale study sponsored by NIAAA found that each of three
commonly used behavioral treatments for alcohol abuse and alcoholism—motivation
enhancement therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and 12-step
facilitation therapy—significantly reduced drinking in the
year following treatment. This study also found that approximately
one-third of the study participants who were followed up either
were still abstinent or were drinking without serious problems
3 years after the study ended. Other therapies that have been
evaluated and found effective in reducing alcohol problems include
brief intervention for alcohol abusers (individuals who are not
dependent on alcohol) and behavioral marital therapy for married
alcohol-dependent individuals.
• Medications development: NIAAA has made developing medications
to treat alcoholism a high priority. We believe that a range of
new medications will be developed based on the results of genetic
and neuroscience research. In fact, neuroscience research has
already led to studies of one medication—naltrexone (ReVia™)—as
an anticraving medication. NIAAA-supported researchers found that
this drug, in combination with behavioral therapy, was effective
in treating alcoholism. Naltrexone, which targets the brain’s
reward circuits, is the first medication approved to help maintain
sobriety after detoxification from alcohol since the approval
of disulfiram (Antabuse®) in 1949. The use of acamprosate,
an anticraving medication that is widely used in Europe, is based
on neuroscience research. Researchers believe that acamprosate
works on different brain circuits to ease the physical discomfort
that occurs when an alcoholic stops drinking. Acamprosate should
be approved for use in the United States in the near future, and
other medications are being studied as well.
• Combined medications/behavioral therapies: NIAAA-supported
researchers have found that available medications work best with
behavioral therapy. Thus, NIAAA has initiated a large-scale clinical
trial to determine which of the currently available medications
and which behavioral therapies work best together. Naltrexone
and acamprosate will each be tested separately with different
behavioral therapies. These medications will also be used together
to determine if there is some interaction between the two that
makes the combination more effective than the use of either one
alone.
In addition to these efforts, NIAAA is sponsoring promising research
in other vital areas, such as fetal alcohol syndrome, alcohol’s
effects on the brain and other organs, aspects of drinkers’
environments that may contribute to alcohol abuse and alcoholism,
strategies to reduce alcohol-related problems, and new treatment
techniques. Together, these investigations will help prevent alcohol
problems; identify alcohol abuse and alcoholism at earlier stages;
and make available new, more effective treatment approaches for
individuals and families.
Source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
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