PSYCHOBIOLOGY OF ALCOHOLISM IN WOMEN

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Studies suggest that the pathophysiology of alcoholism may differ significantly between men and women. To explore this possibility, we have employed several pharmacological challenge paradigms to compare the behavioral and endocrine responses between male and female alcoholics. Preliminary analysis of our results show that the m- chlorophenylpiperazine (m-CPP) gives rise to a variety of behavioral responses in women alcoholics ranging from severe anxiety to euphoria. This corresponds to the responses obtained from male alcoholics demonstrated in a previous study. In contrast, very few of the women experienced an m-CPP induced "desire to drink" response which was demonstrated to occur in approximately 40 percent of the Type II (early onset) male alcoholics.