Principal Investigator:
Suzanne Thomas, Ph.D.
Co-Principal Investigator:
Kathleen Brady, M.D., Ph.D.
Co-Investigators:
Ronald See, Ph.D.
Patrick Randall, Ph.D.
In this research component, Drs. Suzanne Thomas, Kathleen Brady, and Ronald See will conduct a human laboratory study in MUSC's General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) to evaluate the impact of psychological stress on reactivity to alcohol cues and drinking behavior after a “priming” drink. This project will utilize the experience gained by Dr. Brady, during the past ARC grant funding period, in which she induced and measured psychological, biological, and physiological responses to the Trier social stress test. The project builds on findings from animal research, and the research team includes an expert in animal models of reinstatement (Dr. See).
The project takes the relatively novel approach of not just looking at stress as a factor in relapse, but viewing stress as a factor that may have an impact on reaction to cues and on self-regulation of drinking behavior after an initial drink. This “interplay” between psychological stress, cues, and drinking has important implications for treatment, prevention, and relapse. If stress is associated with changes in cue reactivity, then future studies can evaluate pharmacotherapies and behavioral therapies that reduce stress, as well as alter the relationship between stress, cue reactivity, and drinking.
One point of significance of this project is that it will, for the first time, investigate gender differences in the impact of stress on precipitants of relapse. Stress is reported to impact on relapse, and if it does, it will be important to know if it does so differentially by gender. This project fits well into the ARC theme and has clinical implications for both prevention and treatment. It also ties the ARC to the theme of our NIDA-funded Women's Research Center on gender differences in relapse, and it ties the ARC to the stress, anxiety, and alcohol theme in the NIAAA INIA-East initiative.