Drug use disorders (DUDs) frequently co-occur with alcohol use disorders, affecting approximately 1.1 percent of the U.S. population. Compared with alcohol use disorders or DUDs alone, co-occurring disorders are associated with a greater severity of substance dependence; co-occurring psychiatric disorders also are common in this patient population. Many effective medications and behavioral trea...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy and relative costs of different screening methods for the identification of alcohol use disorders in an opportunistic screening programme in primary care in the United Kingdom. DESIGN Comparative study. SETTING Six general practices in south Wales. PARTICIPANTS 194 male primary care attendees aged 18 or over who completed an alcohol use disorders identif...

OBJECTIVE Alcohol use disorders (defined as DSM-IV alcohol dependence or abuse) are prevalent and serious problems among adolescents. As adolescence is marked by progressive hippocampal development, this brain region may be particularly susceptible to the adverse effects of adolescent alcohol use disorders. This study compared the hippocampal volumes of adolescents and young adults with adolesc...

Carlos M. Grilo, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and director of the Eating Disorder Program; Rajita Sinha, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and director of the Substance Abuse Treatment Unit; and Stephanie S. O'Malley, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and director of the Division of Substance Abuse Research, ...

We previously showed that infusion of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) into the ventral tegmental area (VTA) rapidly reduces alcohol intake and relapse (Carnicella et al., 2008, 2009a), and increases dopamine (DA) levels in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) of alcohol-naive rats (Wang et al., 2010). Withdrawal from excessive alcohol intake is associated with a reduction in NAc DA le...

BACKGROUND This study aims to identify the prevalence and at-risk situations of alcohol use disorders among patients examined in the emergency department and to compare the scales commonly used to identify alcohol use disorders. METHODS We used the CAGE and AUDIT questionnaires and a structured interview, the MINI. FINDINGS Of the presenting patients, 9.5% met the DSM-IV criteria for alcoho...

Maintenance therapy with methadone or buprenorphine is an established and first-line treatment for opioid dependence. Clinical studies indicate that about a third of patients in opioid maintenance therapy show increased alcohol consumption and alcohol use disorders. Comorbid alcohol use disorders have been identified as a risk factor for clinical outcome and can cause poor physical and mental h...