@article{ref1,
title="An acute psychosocial stressor increases drinking in non-treatment-seeking alcoholics",
journal="Psychopharmacology",
year="2011",
author="Thomas, Suzanne E. and Bacon, Amy K. and Randall, Patrick K. and Brady, Kathleen T. and See, Ronald E.",
volume="218",
number="1",
pages="19-28",
abstract="RATIONALE: 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. OBJECTIVES: The hypothesis was tested that an acute psychosocial stressor, the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), increases alcohol consumption in non-treatment-seeking alcoholics. METHODS: 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). RESULTS: 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 × gender effects on either outcome. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports that stress-potentiated drinking is valid and can be modeled in a clinical laboratory setting.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0033-3158",
doi="10.1007/s00213-010-2163-6",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00213-010-2163-6"
}