View clinical trials related to Alcoholism.
Filter by:This study evaluates the effect of oxytocin nasal spray on alcohol withdrawal and dependence in adults admitted for detoxification of alcohol, and during the following 4 weeks in an outpatient setting. Half of the participants will receive oxytocin nasal spray, the other half placebo nasal spray.
Alcoholism is the third leading cause of preventable death in the US, accounting for 80,000 deaths annually. Almost 18 million US adults have alcohol use disorder (AUD); however, approved medications for the treatment of AUD has shown limited effectiveness. Zonisamide (ZON), a broad spectrum anticonvulsant, has proven to be more effective than a placebo in reducing alcohol intake in individuals with alcohol dependence. ZON's mechanism of action seems to be quite distinct from currently approved anti-alcoholism medications, which holds promise for treatment of individuals who are not responsive to conventional medications. However, much remains unknown about ZON's therapeutic mechanisms and ZON's efficacy in treating patients with a diagnosis of AUD. To fill in these gaps, the investigators will conduct a double-blind randomized controlled study that assesses ZON's treatment mechanisms and effectiveness in reducing alcohol consumption in patients with AUD. Participants will be randomized to one of two conditions: 1) treatment with ZON and a computerized psychotherapy platform called Take Control (TC); 2) treatment with a placebo (PLC) and TC. To understand the neurobiology behind ZON's potential therapeutic effects on AUD, fMRI will be used to compare the brain activity of the ZON+TC versus PLC+TC group while participants perform an alcohol and emotional-word Stroop task, as well as an alcohol related cues task.
This is a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, 16 week trial of the medication zonisamide for the treatment of heavy drinking alcoholic civilians.
Alcohol use is almost ubiquitous on college campuses and first-year students are at particularly high risk of alcohol-related harm when they first make the transition to college. Peers are important agents in socializing both healthy and unhealthy behaviors, but despite the clear role of peer behavior in the maintenance of college problem drinking, there have been no efforts to measure the effect of individual change on the reduction of alcohol-related risks in the broader student body. That is, despite the importance of social connections for inducing and maintaining alcohol use in youth, intervention approaches have not measured nor capitalized on the potential of social influences for changing this problem behavior. It is essential that we understand the indirect effects of individual interventions and the impact such interventions have on the social structure and social connections. The best way to evaluate such effects is to use a research design that experimentally manipulates drinking using the best available intervention and measures its effects on the social network and its members. The purpose of this research is to investigate whether using an established individual Brief Motivational Intervention (BMI) administered to a small number of influential network members embedded in a social network significantly reduces heavy drinking and alcohol consequences among close peers who do not receive any intervention. In addition, the investigators will investigate social influence mechanisms of this transmitted effect, investigate how specific types of network connections and relationships moderate the indirect intervention effect, and investigate the effects of the intervention on network position and structure. First-year students at Brown will be enrolled and assessed early in their fall 2016 academic semester. Heavy drinkers in each dormitory who are in the top quartile of betweenness centrality, a social network construct that reflects high connectivity and potential influence, will either receive BMI or serve as controls, according to their dormitory's intervention assignment. All participants will be assessed again 5 and 12 months after baseline to measure changes in behavior and in peer ties. The long-term objective of this research is to understand how peer influences function in social networks in order to leverage those mechanisms to reduce problematic alcohol use in heavy drinking populations.
A brief treatment program (MI/CBT) via face-to-face or via internet is tested in association with an outpatient addictions clinic.
The purpose of this research study is to develop and test a care model to treat excessive drinking and alcohol use disorders in the primary care setting. The goal of this research study is to increase the identification and treatment of problem drinking in the primary care setting. Individuals will be asked to participate in this study because routine screening and assessment conducted at your primary care clinic indicates that you have recently exceeded healthy drinking limits as outlined by the National Institutes of Alcohol and Alcoholism.
The primary study objective is to determine the efficacy of pregabalin administered orally for a period of 12 weeks in reducing risky drinking and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder who have selected genotypes at the gamma-amino butyric acid transporter and receptor genes. The secondary objective is to assess the safety and tolerability of pregabalin in participants with alcohol use disorder and co-occurring posttraumatic stress disorder who have selected genotypes at the gamma-amino butyric acid transporter and receptor genes. The investigators will utilize a sample of African-Americans that includes both genders and individuals with different types of trauma.
Due to the relapsing nature of alcoholism, excessive alcohol consumption represents a significant cost to US society ($249 billion in 20101). About 64% of those entering treatment will relapse within one year. New interventions targeting the underlying brain biomarkers of relapse vulnerability hold significant promise in reducing this critical public health problem. Using resting functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we have identified brain biomarkers that support long-term abstinence and brain biomarkers that predict relapse. Our data point to specific brain biomarkers that index higher relapse vulnerability at 11 weeks of abstinence. Many individuals, however, have already relapsed by this time. It is unknown whether these biomarkers can be identified earlier during the recovery period. We need to investigate whether this biomarker of relapse vulnerability can be identified during earlier stages of abstinence. Earlier identification of this biomarker will give valuable information for timely targeted interventions (e.g. closer monitoring, longer stay in treatment program, neuromodulation), increasing the chances of maintaining abstinence. The overall objective of this study is to identify biomarkers of relapse during early abstinence (2-3 weeks of abstinence). A secondary objective is to evaluate whether non-imaging measures such as craving6 and executive function7 add value to prediction models. Findings from this proposal will provide insight into the neurobiology of relapse vulnerability that will inform new treatment strategies needed to improve treatment outcome.
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex may affect neuro-adaptations associated with alcohol use disorder (AUD), potentially influencing craving and alcohol intake. Investigators investigated alcohol intake and dopamine transporter (DAT) availability by Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) in the striatum of AUD patients before and after deep rTMS.
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) impacts millions of Americans and is associated with significant behavioral, social, economic, medical, and neurobiological dysfunction, yet current behavioral treatments for AUD are only modestly effective. The proposed research will test the efficacy of a novel behavioral intervention, which combines brain stimulation with mindfulness-based relapse prevention, and is hypothesized to improve neural dysfunction and ultimately lead to large effect size reductions in heavy drinking among individuals with AUD. Given that mindfulness and brain stimulation are already available for "home use" there is great potential for the ultimate dissemination of the intervention on a large scale, which could have a significant impact on public health.