PTSD and Alcohol

On October 22^nd, Dr. Michael Fanselow presented on stress enhanced fear learning (SEFL). This is used in a rodent model to demonstrate the effects of PTSD on a person’s response to mild stressors. Due to past trauma, the fear response to these stressors is triggered easily even in cases of little threat. Fanselow also went into how this impacted the lives of those who suffer from PTSD and how it impacts their everyday life.

I was curious to see how PTSD impacted one’s relationship with not only adverse stimuli but with positive stimuli as well. I found an article on the effects of alcohol and how the brain associates alcohol consumption after the trauma that occurred during intoxication. The article, published in Clinical Psychology: Science & Practice, Debra Kaysen discusses the effects that alcohol has on the development, severity, and recovery of PTSD.

Though there are many varying factors that play into the way alcohol consumption and PTSD in person who has experienced trauma one interesting point that was brought up was the motivational process that might be impacted by PTSD. First, they discuss that alcohol, though raising one’s risk for traumatic experiences, may actually help to prevent the formation of PTSD. When one consumes alcohol, it reduces one’s response and arousal to trauma exposure. In doing so the low levels of fear may impact the way a person processes trauma. Kaysen discusses the work of J. K. Langdon and who the level of alcohol consumption completely changes the way a woman develops fear conditioning. Those who had consumed low levels of alcohol before an assault showed a higher level of fear conditioning than those who had consumed high levels of alcohol. It is also discussed that alcohol may have an impact on the recovery rate of a person from a traumatic experience. Those who were intoxicated during a traumatic event had a slower rate of recovery.

 Though it could be argued that alcohol, if involved in the traumatic event/ events, may be seen as a trigger it was highlighted that it may also have a satiating effect of the anxiety that one experiences. PTSD, which is seen mostly for its negative effects on reward and motivation, may actually have motivational effects on coping mechanisms such as substance abuse and disassociation. I think that this is very interesting seeing as 70 percent of the population experiences trauma in their lifetime and the substance abuse problem in our country. Finding the connection between these may open a new door to recovery seeing as if one is using drugs or alcohol to cope with trauma then recovery is that much harder. By taking Fanselow’s research a step further and looking into the state of the person while the trauma occurred it may also impact how it is treated.

Kaysen, Debra, et al. “PTSD and Alcohol Associations Among Trauma-Exposed Women: Critical Questions for the Field.” Clinical Psychology: Science & Practice, vol. 24, no. 1, Mar. 2017, pp. 23–26. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/cpsp.12168.

Fanselow, M.S. (2016). “Induction and expression of fear and sensitization caused by acute traumatic stress.” Neuropsychopharmacology, 41, 45-57. PMC4677128.