Differential Sensitivity to Alcohol Reinforcement in Groups of Men at Risk for Distinct Alcoholism Subtypes (original) (raw)
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Stress response dampening: effects of gender and family history of alcoholism and anxiety disorders
Psychopharmacology, 1998
One hundred and fifteen non-alcoholic social drinkers, ages 21-30 years, were selected on the basis of parental history of alcoholism and / or anxiety disorders to participate in a laboratory study of stress response dampening (SRD) effects of alcohol. The following four risk groups were identified based on the diagnoses of both parents: 1) alcoholism (ALC+), (2) alcoholism and anxiety disorder (ALCANX+), (3) anxiety (ANX+), and (4) no psychiatric diagnoses (FH-). Subjects were randomly assigned to receive a placebo or alcohol (0.85 g / kg) beverage, following which cardiovascular measures and self-reports of anxiety were monitored prior to, during and after a speech stressor. Women with a family history of alcoholism and women with a family history of anxiety disorders showed strong SRD effects of alcohol on heart rate and pulse transit time. Men with a family history of anxiety disorders showed evidence of increased subjective response to stress during the alcohol beverage condition. Finally, SRD effects of alcohol were not found for male subjects, and this was attributed to their heavier drinking histories and lower breath alcohol levels as compared to women. Implications of the SRD effects in women are discussed in the context of the comorbid association between alcoholism and anxiety disorders.
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research
Background: Low sensitivity to alcohol in persons with a family history of alcoholism (FH+), compared to those without (FHÀ), contributes to risk for alcohol use disorder (AUD). However, sensitivity of FH+ cardiovascular response to alcohol is not well understood. This gap is significant because cardiovascular processes contribute to emotional regulation and stress response problems theorized to be central to the development and persistence of AUD. This study compared changes in heart rate (HR) and HR variability (HRV) between FH groups after consuming alcohol and control beverages and examined how these changes were moderated by emotional and alcohol-related contexts. Methods: Young adults (N = 165) with FH+ (n = 110) or FHÀ (n = 55) each completed 2 sessions, separated by 1 week. They received one of 3 different beverages (alcohol, placebo, and told-no-alcohol) in each session. Electrocardiogram data were recorded during pre-beverage consumption and postbeverage consumption baselines, and then during 4 picture cue tasks (neutral, positive, negative, and alcohol-related). Generalized estimating equations were used to examine differences in cardiovascular reactivity (changes in HR and HRV power at~0.1 Hz) across FH groups, beverage conditions, and picture cue tasks. Results: A significant beverage condition 9 cue task 9 FH interaction effect on HRV was observed. The FH+ group, compared to the FHÀ group, showed (a) significantly less HRV suppression in specific cue contexts following alcohol, (b) a mixed pattern of more and less HRV suppression across cue contexts following placebo, and (c) a similar HRV reactivity pattern in the told-no-alcohol condition across cue tasks. For HR, there were no significant effects involving FH. Conclusions: Diminished cardiovascular sensitivity to oral alcohol in FH+ persons varied within a given drinking episode depending on emotional and alcohol-related features of the context, suggesting that environmental characteristics play a role in the expression of low sensitivity to alcohol among FH+ individuals.
Personality and Individual Differences, 2001
We examined whether certain``risky'' drinking motives mediate the previously established relation between elevated anxiety sensitivity (AS) and increased drinking behavior in college student drinkers (n=109 women, 73 men). Speci®cally, we administered the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), Revised Drinking Motives Questionnaire, and a quantity-frequency measure of typical drinking levels. Participants were parceled according to high (n=30), moderate (n=29), and low (n=34) AS levels. As expected, high AS participants reported a higher typical weekly drinking frequency than the low and moderate AS students regardless of gender. Similarly, high AS participants (particularly high AS men) reported a higher yearly excessive drinking frequency than low AS students. Only the negative reinforcement motives of Coping and Conformity were found to independently mediate the relations between AS and increased drinking behavior in the total sample. High AS women's greater drinking behavior was largely explained by their elevated Coping Motives, while heightened Conformity Motives explained the increased drinking behavior of high AS men. Finally, associations between AS and increased drinking behavior in university students were largely attributable to the``social concerns'' component of the ASI. We discuss the observed relations with respect to the psychological functions of drinking behavior that may portend the development of alcohol problems in young adult high AS men and women.
Clinical EEG and Neuroscience, 2007
Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent in patients with alcohol use disorder. The purpose of the present study was to examine the neural correlates of behavioral inhibition in alcohol-dependent patients (ICD-10: F 10.2), and in healthy controls and to determine the influence of anxiety on these processes. Therefore, behavioral responses (reaction times; error rates) and event-related potentials of 16 patients with alcohol dependence syndrome and 16 ageand gender-matched healthy controls were recorded while the participants performed an auditory golno-go task. The patient group was stratified according to their self-rated trait anxiety (STAI) with scores above and below median. We hypothesized that patients suffering from alcohol dependence would show reduced no-go P3 amplitudes involved in response inhibition compared to healthy subjects. In patients with alcoholism and high trait anxiety the decline of nogo P3 amplitudes was expected to be less distinct.
The influence of sensitivity to reward on reactivity to alcohol-related cues
Addiction, 2001
To investigate the role of sensitivity to reward in mediating social drinkers' reactivity to alcohol cues. Design. A standard cue-reactivity paradigm was employed. Two groups of social drinkers (heavy and light) were assessed after exposure to the sight, smell and taste of a neutral cue (water) and then an alcohol cue (glass of beer). Setting. Sessions were conducted in a laboratory based environment. Participants. Twenty heavy (12 males, eight females) and 18 light social drinkers (seven males, 11 females) were recruited; mean age was 23.6 years. Measurements. The Card Arranging Reward Responsivity Objective Test (CAR-ROT), assessing behavioural reponsiveness to a monetary incentive; urge to drink; positive affect; and the BAS scales, assessing sensitivity to reward. Findings. Heavy drinkers displayed a signi cant increase in responsivity to rewards (i.e. CARROT) and self-reported urge to drink, but not positive affect, after exposure to alcohol. For the heavy drinkers, heightened sensitivity to reward (i.e. BAS scales) was signi cantly related to cue-elicited urge to drink and positive affect. Conclusion. The results are consistent with a conditioned appetitive motivational model of alcohol use and suggest that Gray's theory of personality may be of some bene t in explaining variation in reactivity responses.
Addictive Behaviors, 2001
Previous research suggests that high anxiety sensitivity (AS) young adults are particularly sensitive to alcohol's dampening effects on their responses to arousal-induction challenge [Alcohol.: Clin. Exp. Res. 24 (2000) 1656.]. This sensitivity to alcohol reward may place high AS individuals at increased risk for alcohol abuse. Over-and-above alcohol's pharmacological effects, tension-reduction expectancies might contribute to alcohol's reactivity-dampening effects in high-AS individuals. The present study examined the role of alcohol and alcohol expectancy factors by activating expectancies experimentally. Forty-eight high-AS young adults were randomly assigned to one of three beverage conditions: alcohol (pharmacology plus expectancy), placebo (expectancy only), and control (no pharmacology and no expectancy). Following beverage consumption and absorption, participants underwent a 3-min voluntary hyperventilation challenge. Replicating and extending previous findings, participants in the alcohol condition showed dampened affective and somatic responses to the challenge, and marginally dampened cognitive responses to the challenge, compared to both placebo and control participants. However, placebo participants did not display dampened responses to the challenge relative to control beverage condition participants. Additional analyses suggested that activation of tension-reduction expectancies might have contributed to an ''inverse placebo'' effect among high-AS participants administered placebo. Implications of the results for future research and 0306-4603/01/$ -see front matter D
Psychopharmacology, 2001
Rationale: Alcohol-induced heart rate (HR) stimulation during the rising limb of the blood alcohol curve reliably discriminates between individuals at differential risk for alcoholism, and appears to be a potential psychophysiological index of psychomotor stimulation from alcohol. Objectives: Three studies are presented which explore the reliability and convergent and discriminant validity of this alcohol response index. Methods: Young men with and without a multigenerational family history of alcoholism were administered a 1.0 ml/kg dose of 95% USP alcohol. Resting baseline cardiac and subjective measures were assessed before and after alcohol consumption. Results: Study 1 demonstrated that alcohol-induced HR stimulation was significantly and positively related to alcohol-induced changes in mood. Study 2 demonstrated that alcohol-induced HR stimulation was reliable across two alcohol administration sessions (r=0.33-0.66, P<0.01). Study 3 explored the relationship between the proposed index and measures of sensitivity to alcohol previously linked to genetic predisposition to alcoholism. Multiple regression analysis indicated that alcohol-induced HR increase and reduced subjective intoxication (measured using the Subjective High Assessment Scale) were both positively associated with alcohol-induced changes in mood states that have previously been shown to be sensitive to the effects of stimulant drugs and the reinforcing effects of alcohol. Conclusions: Sensitivity to alcohol-induced heart-rate stimulation during the ascending limb of the blood alcohol curve may be a useful and informative marker for understanding susceptibility to alcoholism.
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, 2004
The psychomotor stimulant theory of addiction posits that sensitivity to the positively rewarding properties of alcohol puts certain individuals at higher risk for alcohol abuse. A valid and reliable index of overactivation in the reward system has been a heightened baseline heart rate (HR) increase on the ascending limb of the blood alcohol curve. The main goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between this HR response and a questionnaire measuring sensitivity to reward and sensitivity to punishment. Additional goals included looking at (1) the association between a high HR response and various personality traits (hopelessness/introversion, anxiety sensitivity, impulsivity, and sensation-seeking) and the relationship between these personality traits and stimulant use.
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2000
Background: Previous research suggests that high levels of anxiety sensitivity (AS; fear of anxiety symptoms) may constitute a risk factor for alcohol abuse. The present study evaluated the hypothesis that high AS levels may increase risk for alcohol abuse by promoting a heightened sober reactivity to theoretically relevant stressors and heightened sensitivity to alcohol's emotional reactivity dampening effects, which would negatively reinforce drinking in this population. Methods: One hundred and two undergraduate participants (51 high AS, 51 low AS) with no history of panic disorder were assigned to either a placebo, low-dose alcohol, or high-dose alcohol beverage condition (17 high AS, 17 low AS per beverage condition). After beverage consumption and absorption, participants underwent a 3 min voluntary hyperventilation challenge. Results and Conclusions: High-AS/placebo participants displayed greater affective and cognitive reactivity to the challenge than low-AS/placebo participants, which indicated increased fear and negative thoughts (e.g., "losing control") during hyperventilation among sober high AS individuals. Dose-dependent alcohol dampening of affective and cognitive reactivity to hyperventilation was observed only among high-AS participants, which suggested that high-AS individuals may be particularly sensitive to alcoholinduced reductions in their degree of fear and negative thinking in response to the experience of physical arousal sensations. In contrast, dose-dependent alcohol dampening of self-reported somatic reactivity was observed among both high-and low-AS participants. We discuss implications of these results for understanding risk for alcohol abuse in high-AS individuals, as well as directions for future research.