The 19th century novelist Lewis Carroll once famously wrote: “I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then,” but he may have been wrong. A new study suggests that the impact of early abuse or neglect lasts into adulthood, affecting personality and alcohol use.
All professionals who deal with alcohol-related issues know that a family history of diagnosable alcohol problems can significantly increase a person’s chances of developing his or her own pattern of problematic drinking. However, researchers are still exploring the ways in which such a history manifests in the present. In a study published in July 2014 …
How Does Family History Impact Risk for Drinking Problems? Read More »
Excessive drinking is a public health term that describes participation in any form of short- or long-term alcohol consumption capable of producing significant harm and/or triggering fatal outcomes. Specific forms of this practice include heavy drinking and binge drinking. In a study published in June 2014 in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention journal …
Men who moderate their alcohol intake generally lead happier, more fulfilling lives, a 75-year long Harvard study shows. In 1938, the Grant Study set out following 268 Harvard undergraduate men in order to determine what factors contribute most strongly to human flourishing. Dr. George Vaillant, who directed the extensive and detailed project for over 30 …
Alcohol produces its most prominent effects by making significant changes in the brain’s normal chemical environment. In a person with alcoholism, some of these changes persist over time and lead to lasting, disruptive structural and behavioral problems. In a study published in April 2014 in the journal PLOS One, a team of researchers from Spain …
Seeing a friend spiraling into self-destruction is never a pleasant experience. Not only will you be witnessing somebody you care about hurting him or herself, you’re also thrown into the uncomfortable position of having to decide what to do about it. It might not be the most appealing notion, but real friends look out for …
How Do I Tell a Friend He Has a Drinking Problem? Read More »
People with serious drinking problems may have overlapping symptoms of alcohol abuse and alcoholism, symptoms related only to non-addicted abuse or symptoms related only to alcoholism. After trying to quit, many of these individuals experience a short- or long-term relapse back into active alcohol consumption. In a study published in June 2014 in the journal …
Which People Have Highest Odds of Quitting Drinking? Read More »
Doctors and researchers know that some of the risks for developing alcoholism are passed on genetically from generation to generation. In a study published May/June 2014 in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism, researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina and the University of California, Los Angeles assessed the potential impact of two genetic variations …
Which Genetic Factors Increase Susceptibility to Alcoholism? Read More »
No family is conflict-free. But when one parent is addicted to alcohol, the amount of arguing that goes on in the home is higher than normal. That kind of home environment hurts everyone, including the children. The good news, according to a new study, is that if dad will take steps to deal with his …
When Dad Works to Overcome Alcoholism, Children See Real Benefit Read More »
Addiction specialists and researchers know that alcoholism does not manifest in the same way in all affected individuals. In the 1990s, a researcher named Thomas F. Babor proposed a classification system that divides alcoholics into two main groups, known as Type A alcoholics and Type B alcoholics, based on several underlying criteria. In a study …