title: An acute psychosocial stressor increases drinking in non-treatment-seeking alcoholics.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  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.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  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.
authors.affiliation: Charleston Alcohol Research Center, Institute of Psychiatry, Medical University of South Carolina, 67 President Street, Charleston, SC 29425, USA. thomass@musc.edu
authors.forename: Suzanne E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Amy K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Bacon
authors.forename: Patrick K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Randall
authors.forename: Kathleen T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Brady
authors.forename: Ronald E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: See
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D001515:Beer; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011581:Psychological Tests; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol