This investment in high quality biomedical and behavioral research has produced significant results. For example, it is now clear that a portion of the risk for developing alcoholism is the result of genetics, and scientists are making progress in finding the genes that influence vulnerability to alcoholism. We also have learned many of the ways in which alcohol affects the brain. Alcohol neuroscience research has already provided the basis for new medications to treat alcoholism. In the future this research is expected to provide alcohol clinicians with even more effective pharmacological tools to help their patients recover and avoid relapse.
Alcohol use affects health in many ways.
Preventing alcohol abuse and alcoholism has been an important goal of alcohol research. Alcohol researchers, including epidemiologists and behavioral scientists, have defined populations at risk and developed and tested programs that have proved successful in reducing alcohol-related problems in our schools and in our communities. A growing body of research on treatment effectiveness has resulted in, among other things, improved diagnostic systems, and methods of screening and assessment. Clinical trials, long the mainstay of medical science, are now used to assess and improve alcohol treatment and promise new and more refined treatments for affected individuals.