Blacking Out the Blackout –
NOVEMBER 26, 2019 – For a person with alcohol use disorder, a memory triggered by a simple cue — like walking by a favorite bar or spotting a beer billboard — can drive a desire for a drink. The idea hinges on the rewriting of the memories associated with drinking. Those memories are often associated with environmental cues, like certain friends a person with alcohol use disorder always drank with. By manipulating those memories in a moment when they’re malleable, researchers hope to break the tie between memories and environmental cues — and in turn, prevent relapse. In a small, preliminary new study published Tuesday in Nature Communications, the approach was associated with less alcohol consumption and less of an urge to drink among people who drank heavily and often.
