Alcohol addiction is a disease that plagues many people throughout the world. According to the World Health Organization, 209 million people in the world live with alcohol dependence. In 2024, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) recorded that 27.9 million people aged 12+ had Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) 775,000 youth (3.0%) and 27.1 million adults (10.3%) had AUD.Alcohol has also been attributed to 2.6 million deaths in 2019. Addiction has cost many lives, however, despite knowing how bad alcohol is for not just their health, but their relationships, people still go back to it. Why? A new study may have found the answer to that.What makes a person keep drinking alcohol, even when it harms their health and relationships?A new study from Scripps Research offers a major clue. It shows that people often drink not for pleasure, but to escape the stress and misery of withdrawal. A tiny area in the brain is key to this learning process.What Part Of The Brain Is Responsible For Relapse? In a study published on August 5, 2025, researchers focused on a group of brain cells in rats located in a small, central area called the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT).The researchers found that the PVT area became much more active when the rats learned that drinking alcohol would make the awful feelings of withdrawal go away.The problem people with alcohol dependency face is that this activity in the PVT drives a powerful urge to seek alcohol, leading to strong relapse behavior.The researchers explained that the thing that makes addiction so hard to break is in the psychology, some people are not just chasing a high. They explain that many times these people are trying to get rid of powerful negative states, like the stress and anxiety of withdrawal.Where Does Alcohol Addiction Stem From? Millions of people struggle with alcohol use disorder, which often involves a difficult cycle: trying to quit, dealing with painful withdrawal, and then relapsing (starting to drink again). This study helps explain why the urge to relapse is so powerful. The study showed that the brain learns a powerful lesson: alcohol stops the pain.Rats quickly learned that drinking gave them relief from the stressful, bad feelings of withdrawal.This learning was so strong that they would try very hard to get alcohol—they kept seeking it out even if they had to overcome difficulties or faced punishment.In every rat that learned this pattern, a tiny area of the brain called the PVT became highly active, or "lit up." This is the circuit that links alcohol to relief from stress. The PVT is already known to handle stress and anxiety, so it makes sense that it activates to escape the stress of withdrawal.Can You Manipulate Your Brain To Not Relapse? The findings are important for more than just alcohol addiction. The brain's drive to act in order to escape stress or pain is common in many human behaviors. The results could help treat other conditions, including:Anxiety disorders.Intense fear or learning to avoid things after trauma.Researchers now plan to study women and look closely at the chemicals in the PVT area. If they can find the specific molecules involved in this escape learning, it could open new doors for creating better medications that target the brain's mechanism for avoiding pain, offering a new way to help people recover.
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