An acute psychosocial stressor increases drinking in non-treatment-seeking alcoholics

作者：Thomas Suzanne E^*; Bacon Amy K; Randall Patrick K; Brady Kathleen T; See Ronald E

来源：Psychopharmacology, 2011, 218(1): 19-28.

DOI：10.1007/s00213-010-2163-6

• Alcohol
• Relapse
• Cortisol
• Stress
• Gender
• Model

Although studies suggest that stress is an important reason for relapse in alcoholics, few controlled studies have been conducted to examine this assumption. Evidence of stress-potentiated drinking would substantiate this clinical observation and would contribute to the development of a model that would be valuable to alcohol treatment research.
The hypothesis was tested that an acute psychosocial stressor, the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), increases alcohol consumption in non-treatment-seeking alcoholics.
Seventy-nine alcohol-dependent participants (40 women) were randomly assigned to receive the TSST or a no-stress condition. Immediately afterward, all participants received an initial dose of their preferred alcoholic beverage to achieve a target blood alcohol concentration of 0.03 g/dl (to prime subsequent drinking in the laboratory). Participants then participated in a mock taste test of two glasses of beer. Primary dependent measures were whether s/he drank all of the beer available (yes/no) and total amount of beer consumed (milliliters).
Stressed participants were twice as likely as non-stressed participants to drink all of the beer available, a significant effect. Although the stressed group drank more milliliters than the non-stressed group, this effect failed to reach significance, likely due to ceiling effects. There were no significant stress group x gender effects on either outcome.
This study supports that stress-potentiated drinking is valid and can be modeled in a clinical laboratory setting.

• 出版日期2011-11