Brief skills training is effective to curb college drinking

A study in Swedish colleges, where over-use of alcohol is widespread, showed that a Brief Skills Training Program was effective in reducing alcohol consumption over a two-year period.

Students were randomly assigned to a brief skills training program (BSTP) with interactive lectures and discussions, a twelve-step–influenced (TSI) program with didactic lectures by therapists trained in the 12-step approach, and a control group. More than three quarters of the students were rated "high risk" on an alcohol consumption score.

At follow-up two years later, the high-risk students who had received the BSTP program showed significantly better outcomes than high-risk students who had undergone TSI. The TSI students did no better than the control group.

The study results are in the March issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Abstract.

Alcohol, nicotine hit same spots in brain

Swedish researchers have found that alcoholics' craving for alcohol is controlled by the same mechanism that nicotine uses to stimulate the brain. The findings could lead to new treatments for alcohol abuse.

It has been known for some time that there is a link between alcohol and nicotine. 'Alcoholism is ten times stronger among smokers than among non-smokers, and this connection between alcohol and nicotine is not just because many people smoke at parties,' said Elin Löf, research at the Göteborg University, Sweden.

As part of her doctoral dissertation, Dr Löf studied the brains of rats to find out more about this link. She found that when alcoholics are tempted to drink, the so called 'nicotine receptors' are activated. Furthermore, chronic use of nicotine can reinforce the rewarding effects of alcohol, while decreasing the sleep-inducing effects of alcohol. Source.