The channel between the left and right brain is noticeably smaller among the alcoholics. Up until recently, scientists haven't been able to show directly how alcohol affects the brain. But studies at the National Institutes of Health could lead to a number of different drugs to dampen alcohol's effects. Back in Hommer's lab, they're trying to figure out why a chronic drinker craves alcohol. Patients are given a drug that makes them want to drink.
Most people are able to control that impulse.
But in alcoholics, a control switch fails to turn on. Antabuse, which makes drinking physically unbearable, and the more promising Naltrexone, which reduces the craving for alcohol. Scientists hope to develop new and even more potent drugs by studying neurotransmitters, the brain's chemical messengers which may regulate craving. One day, it may be possible to prevent someone from becoming an alcoholic. Studies show some children of alcoholic parents have a harder time concentrating.