Internet and Psychiatry

Acupuncture has been used for the treatment of alcohol and drug use disorders for many years. Recently, scientists from the Department of Neuropsychiatry, Hospital of Korean Medicine, Kyung Hee University Medical Center, Seoul, Korea, reviewed studies of the use of acupuncture for the treatment of alcohol dependence.

Kuntsche E, Stewart SH.
Swiss Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Drug Problems, Switzerland. J Health Psychol. 2009 May.

A structural equation model was estimated based on a Swiss national sample of 5649 12- to 18-year-olds to test whether individual drinking motives mediate the link between classmates' motives and individual alcohol use. Results showed that the social, enhancement, coping and conformity motives of individual students are associated with the corresponding motive dimension of other students in the class. No direct effect of the four classmates' motives on individual drinking, but an indirect effect via individual motives was observed. It appears that drinking motives within the adolescent social environment exert their influence on drinking by way of shaping individual motives.

H. Richardson^{1, 3}; L. E. O'Dell²; S. Y. Lee³; G. F. Koob¹; C. L. Rivier³
1. Neuropharmacology, CVN-7, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA.
2. Psychology, University of Texas, El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA.
3. Clayton Laboratories for Peptide Biology, The Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA.

Alcohol is a potent modulator of the stress system, and dysregulation of the stress axis may contribute to the development of alcohol abuse and alcoholism. Experimenter-controlled injection of alcohol has been shown to stimulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in rats, and the HPA response is blunted in animals previously exposed to chronic alcohol.

W. A. Williams¹; R. E. Carson³; A. Heinz²; J. Bjork⁵; M. Enoch⁴; C. Geyer⁵; R. Rawlings⁵; D. Hommer⁵; D. Goldman⁴; P. Herscovitch⁶
1. Psychiatry, Yale Univ, New Haven, CT, USA.
2. Psychiatry, Humboldt Univ, Berlin, Germany.
3. PET Center, Yale Univ, New Haven, CT, USA.
4. Lab Neurogenetics, NIAAA, Bethesda, MD, USA.
5. Lab Clinical Studies, NIAAA, Bethesda, MD, USA.
6. PET Dept, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA

Alcohol dependence (AD) is an etiologically heterogeneous syndrome determined by a complex interaction of genetic and environmental factors. We propose to investigate monoamine dysfunction in alcoholic patients by using acute tryptophan (TRP) depletion (ATD) and PET imaging.

J. D. Higley¹; C. S. Barr¹; S. J. Suomi²
1. Section of Primate Models of Psychopathology, LCTS, NIH, NIAAA Intramural, Poolesville, MD, USA.
2. Laboratory of Comparative Ethology, NICHD, Intramural, Poolesville, MD, USA.

A relationship between alcohol intake and aggressive behavior has been demonstrated in a variety of studies. Primary among the factors that contribute to aggression during intoxication are a previous history of violence and impaired CNS serotonin functioning. In addition, aggressive behavior, a low level of response to alcohol (LOR), and alcoholism have been attributed to impaired CNS serotonergic function.

L. Daws¹; N. L. Baganz Strode¹; J. L. Munn¹; J. M. Boyce-Rustay²; A. Holmes²
1. Physiology, UTHSCSA, San Antonio, TX, USA.
2. Behavioral Science and Genetics, NIAAA, Bethesda, MD, USA.

The serotonin (5-HT) transporter (SERT; 5-HTT) provides the primary mechanism for terminating 5-HT neurotransmission and there is evidence that it is under regulatory control of hormones released in response to stress. Stress is linked to alcoholism and there is growing evidence that genetically driven SERT expression may be an important predisposing factor for stress and/or alcohol-related disorders. For example, humans and non-human primates with a low-functioning form of the SERT exhibit altered sensitivity to the intoxicating effects of ethanol and an increased propensity to consume ethanol. Moreover, recent studies indicate that the effects of SERT gene-deficiency may be further modified by exposure to stress. Here we examine the relationship between chronic stress, SERT function and sensitivity to ethanol in vivo mouse models.