Alcohol and The Brain
Alcoholism is a psychiatric disease characterized by the excessive drinking of alcohol. Studies have shown biological children from alcoholic parents, who have been placed in non-alcoholic families, have a high occurrence to become alcoholic. Other studies have shown that children of non-alcoholic parents placed into homes of alcoholics did not have an increase risk to become alcoholic. From these studies, many speculate that alcoholism has a strong genetic component.
When alcohol reaches the brain, it depresses or slows down the way the brain works by disrupting some of the messages the brain sends to itself and throughout the body. This is because alcohol is able to bind many different (neurotransmitter) receptors and inhibit or prevent an action potential. One such receptor is called gama-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor. GABA, the neurotransmitter, is the body's inhibitory neurotransmitter and thus acts to prevent the transmission of excitatory signals (i.e. pain and anxiety). Many different anesthetic and sedative medications mimic GABA by binding the GABA receptor. Alcohol increases the effect GABA has by acting on the GABA receptor, which is why people often feel more relaxed after consuming alcohol.
In addition to the activations of the GABA receptors, alcohol also increases the release of naturally occurring opiods, which in turn increases the release of dopamine. These naturally occurring opiods cause a flooding of dopamine in the forebrain, specifically in the pathway known as the reward pathway of the forebrain. Besides drinking alcohol, eating, gambling and sex also increase dopamine levels in the reward pathway of the brain by the same means. Hence, people crave these things.
Many alcoholics are clinically depressed and drink as a form of non-medical treatment for their depression (Ironically, because of its action on the GABA receptor, alcohol itself is a depressant). Alcohol also acts to cause the release of serotonin, a neurotransmitter associated with happiness, in the brain. As one continues to drink, one is often encouraged to drink more because of the positive feedback of feeling happier.
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