Am J Psychiatry 1996; 153:956-958
Copyright © 1996 by American Psychiatric Association
Liability to alprazolam abuse in daughters of alcoholics
DA Ciraulo, O Sarid-Segal, C Knapp, AM Ciraulo, DJ Greenblatt and RI Shader
Psychiatry Service, VA Medical Center, Boston, MA 02130, USA.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine mood changes in women
with a parental history of alcohol dependence (daughters of alcoholics)
after challenge does of alprazolam and placebo in comparison with responses
in women without a history of parental alcohol dependence. METHOD: Visual
analog scales that assess liability to benzodiazepine abuse were
administered to 12 adult daughters of alcoholics and 11 comparison subjects
after alprazolam challenge. RESULTS: The daughters of alcoholics had
greater pleasant mood responses after a single dose of alprazolam than did
the comparison subjects despite having similar plasma alprazolam levels.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study suggest that the mood-enhancing
effects of alprazolam are greater in daughters of alcoholics than in
subjects without a history of parental alcohol dependence.
