The latest statistics show that over 80 percent of the population of the United States uses alcohol. Alcohol-related deaths each year are in excess of 100,000. Alcohol abuse has run through four high-peak cycles in the United States in the last 150 years, the peaks being in the 1840s, 1860s, the first decade of the 1990s and the period from 1970-1981. Currently it is estimated that there are one and a half million new alcohol users each year. This paper will look at the problem of relapse in recovering alcoholics and methods of relapse treatment.
Alcohol abuse and alcoholism are the most serious substance abuse problems in the United States, yet little is known about the biological and environmental factors that lead people to drink excessively and how these factors interact (Hunt, 1994). Neuroscientific research is looking at how alcohol affects the brain to help understand alcohol abuse and alcoholism. Alcohol affects several neurological functions because of its ability to move into both water and fat. It affects cell membranes and disturbs their function and the function of molecules and other structures within cells which are responsible for communication between cells.
Research has suggested that alcohol exerts its depressant effect by enhancing the action of the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain - gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Other studies suggest that areas of the limbic system in the brain play an important role in the reinforcing properties of alcohol. Long-term exposure to alcohol has been shown to lead to the development of structural abnormalities in the hippocampus and cerebellum areas of the brain. It is not yet clear how these changes translate into behavioral abnormalities.
A recent study by the Research Institute on Addictions indicates that alcoholics begin drinking regularly at an earlier age than non-alcoholics, and drink more heavily in their youth than moderate drinkers ...