Health Behavior News Service - It’s hard to stay sober when you’re depressed, even if you are in a recovery program, according to a new study of people with alcoholism that reminds us of the importance of dual diagnosis treatment.
Researchers from the Minneapolis VA Medical Center documented the quitting success of 462 people with alcohol [...]

UNC.edu - People with clinical addictions know first-hand the ravages the disease can take on almost every aspect of their lives. So why do they continue addictive behaviors, even after a period of peaceable abstinence?
Some answers appear rooted in regions of the brain active during decision-making and related to impulsive choices.
“It’s perhaps not just that [...]

Teenagers who have been exposed to fetal alcohol in the womb are at high risk for heavy drinking and perpetuating a family cycle of alcohol addiction.
APA.org - Young people whose mothers drank when pregnant may be more likely to abuse alcohol because, in the womb, their developing senses came to prefer its taste and smell. [...]

New research suggests problems in the amygdala can make brain under-reactive to potential dangers, more thrill-seeking, and more sensitive to a drug’s high.
Why do mental illness and drug addiction so often go together? New research reveals that this type of dual diagnosis may stem from a common cause: developmental changes in the amygdala, a walnut-shaped [...]

Health Behavior News Service - Recovering alcoholics whose chosen strategy is to abstain from drinking are least likely to relapse, according to a new study of a nationally representative sample of adults.
However, although abstinence is the most reliable form of recovery to help middle-age and older adults avoid alcohol abuse and dependence problems, the study [...]

Endo-Society.org — New research into lifelong alcohol consumption reveals that heavy binge drinking by adolescents and young adults is associated with increased long-term risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and other metabolic disorders. The risk is lower in people who start drinking alcohol later in life and maintain more moderate drinking [...]