Neurotic Tension and Alcoholism

This paper utilizes the findings of a number of animal studies on the effects of alcoholism as a conceptual foundation for the development of a comprehensive treatment program. Essentially, the reviewed studies used procedures to develop neuroses in animals and then observed the effects of alcohol on neurotic symptoms. Some animals developed an addiction to the stress relieving properties of the alcohol and were then "cured" through a variety of interventions including environmental manipulations, retraining, and rehabilitation.

After review of the animal studies, a justification for the relevance of these studies to human populations was offered. this justification consisted of a delineation of a number of parallels between the effects of alcohol on the neurotic behavior of animals and the effects of alcohol on the neurotic behavior of humans. Generally, the parallels were used to support the thesis that a primary motivation for drinking alcohol was to dull neurotic tensions and fears and to obtain an immediate if only temporary release from pain.

Using the conceptual foundation developed in the first two sections of the paper, the third and final section of the paper lays out a strategy for the comprehensive treatment of alcohol dependence and abuse. In this regard, comprehensive treatment was said to need to address three issues: individual issues, social issues, and public issues.

. . .
ate of the animal, the way the researcher measures anxiety, and the dose of alcohol given to the animal. CHAPTER 9 THE EFFECT OF MATERNAL HANDLING ON ETHANOL SENSITIVITY IN ADULT OFFSPRING The study presented in this paper was undertaken based upon earlier animal experiments suggesting that central nervous system mechanisms involving neurotransmitters play a role in the stress reducing effects of alcohol. Specifically, it is postulated by the authors that prenatal handling (in that it affects the Central Nervous System) can alter rats' stress responses as well as their related tolerance to alcohol to alcohol; this postulation is formulated as valid depending upon whether it is true that, as postulated by the Tension Reduction Hypothesis, alcohol consumption does produce changes in the stress response of various organisms. Methods used in the study involved two groups of rats, some of which were subjected to prenatal handling and some of which were not. Once pups were born, various behavioral and biologic measures were collected as they grew. After reaching adulthood, the rats were decapitated 30 minutes after either an ethanol or saline injection. Measures of alcohol and corticosterone levels in the blood were
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Reduction Hypothesis, Porhorecky Brick, DIS-EASE SYNDROME, Dan Lettieri, Brick Pohorecky, STAGES DRINKING, Mills Regarding, Alcohol Anonymous, According Tucker, Donald Ottenberg, alcohol consumption, reduction hypothesis, tension reduction, tension reduction hypothesis, effects alcohol, drinking behavior, people drink, nervous system, dose alcohol, authors paper, individual differences, autonomic nervous system, association study cure, short-term effects alcohol, study cure inebriety,
Approximate Word count = 9133
Approximate Pages = 37 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Neurotic Tension and Alcoholism