Prazosin to Reduce Stress-Induced Alcohol/Drug Craving and Relapse

To test the preliminary efficacy of 16.0 mg of Prazosin daily versus placebo in treatment seeking alcohol dependent individuals. This proposal is a laboratory and treatment outcome study to examine the effects of Prazosin on brief exposure to stress, drug cues and neutral situations on alcohol and drug craving, mood and neurobiological reactivity in a sample of cocaine and/or alcohol dependent individuals. Prazosin will be beneficial for reduction in stress and alcohol cue induced craving and related arousal. In a sample of treatment-seeking alcohol dependent men and women, we propose to examine (a) differences in measures of alcohol craving, emotion state, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activation, physiological arousal and plasma catecholamine response to stress imagery and to alcohol cue imagery as compared to neutral imagery; (b) reduction in alcohol abstinence symptoms; and (c) improvement in alcohol treatment outcomes as measured by reductions in heavy drinking days, any drinking days, secondarily on drinks/day, anxiety, mood and sleep.

This is a proof-of-concept (POC) experimental therapeutics study with 2 arms. The first is a double-blind placebo controlled laboratory study with 40 individuals meeting current alcohol dependence criteria (DSM-IVTR) who are admitted to the Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit and initiated on Prazosin vs Placebo (16mg/day) after admission and initial detoxification (if required). Experimental laboratory sessions are conducted after subjects achieved full dose after the 2-week titration, in week 3-4 of inpatient stay. The laboratory outcomes included alcohol craving, anxiety, negative affect and neuroendocrine and sympathetic arousal measures. Individuals who wished to remain on study medication for the outpatient (Arm 2) were maintained on study medication throughout the outpatient phase for a total period of 12 weeks.

Arm 2 of the POC study is a 12-week randomized clinical trial (RCT) of Prazosin (16mg/day) versus Placebo in 100 treatment seeking alcohol dependent individuals, to assess whether high anxiety and distress, including alcohol craving, manifest as increased alcohol withdrawal symptoms at treatment entry moderates Prazosin effects on alcohol use outcomes. Primary alcohol use outcomes include heavy drinking days, any drinking days and secondarily drinks/day. Additional secondary outcomes include alcohol craving, anxiety and mood symptoms and sleep disturbances. Patients from Arm 1 who wished to continue on study medication for the outpatient phase were included in Arm 2. Arm 2 patients were initiated on study medication upon presenting with a negative breathalyzer without any minimum pre-treatment alcohol abstinence period prior to medication initiation.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Male or female individuals, ages 18-70 with alcohol dependence, treatment seeking with varying levels of alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
* meet current DSM-IV criteria for alcohol dependence,
* Subject has voluntarily given informed consent and signed the informed consent document.
* Able to read English and complete study evaluations.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Meet current criteria for dependence on another psychoactive substance, excluding nicotine and caffeine;
* Any current use of opiates;
* Current use of any psychoactive drugs, including anxiolytics, antidepressants, naltrexone or disulfram, except for stabilized on SSRIs
* Any psychotic disorder or current Axis I psychiatric symptoms requiring specific attention, including need for psychiatric medications for current major depression and anxiety disorders
* Significant underlying medical conditions such as cerebral, renal, thyroid or cardiac pathology which in the opinion of study physician would preclude patient from fully cooperating or be of potential harm during the course of the study;
* Hypotensive individuals with sitting blood pressure below 90/60 mmHG.