Alcoholism

Alcohol-use disorders develop over a protracted course, beginning with social experimentation, to repeated binge-like indulgence, to use despite personal, social, and/or legal consequences, and ultimately to dependence. A growing body of evidence indicates that developmental factors have an impact on risk for the development of alcoholism, such that use of alcohol during or before adolescence increases the probability of an alcohol abuse or dependence diagnosis later in life. In addition, genetic differences among individuals have an influence on risk. A formidable task has been identifying the influential genes, their connections within biochemical pathways, and their interactions with environmental factors that may alter the path of disease development. Though this task is not complete, newer technologies have allowed for the large-scale human and animal model studies that will be required to determine whether biological markers for risk for alcohol disorders can be found and can be used to develop better therapies.