Alcohol-induced Amnesia Research Articles

The Relationship between Drunkorexia, Alcohol, and Blackouts Among College Students: An Exploratory Study.

College drinkers commonly report blacking out (i.e., alcohol-induced amnesia), and those who drink with the intention to blackout are at risk for harmful consequences. Drunkorexia (i.e., restriction of calories on planned drinking days) is a high-risk behavior potentially associated with blacking out. Informed by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), this study explores blackout experiences and intentions to blackout association with drunkorexia. College students (n=2335) who primarily identified as female and White participated via an online survey. Participants received a $3 coupon for completion of the study. Consistent with the literature, 40% and 60.7% participants reported experiencing blackouts and drunkorexia respectively in the last year. Informed by the TPB, a structural equation model assessed if more frequency blackout experiences (IV) related to drunkorexia behaviors (DV1) and alcohol behaviors (DV2), and if there was a significant indirect effect through blackout intention. The model fit the data well (CFI=.98, TLI=.95) and suggests that more frequent blackout experiences relate to more drunkorexia experiences (R2=.04) and higher levels of alcohol consumption (R2=.44). In addition, the relationship between blackout experiences and drunkorexia flows through intentions to blackout (i.e., a significant indirect effect). Findings are consistent with TPB, which suggests intentions predict health behavior. Future interventions should consider modifying intentions and other possible TPB constructs to minimize high risk alcohol consumption and drunkorexia behaviors.

“I Still Don’t Know What Happened, Complete Blackout”: a Content Analysis of Tweets Referencing Alcohol-Induced Amnesia

Twitter provides a real-time venue for monitoring alcohol consumption and negative alcohol-related consequences. “Blackouts,” defined as events involving alcohol-induced amnesia, are commonly endorsed among social drinkers. However, the term “blackout” has been used in popular culture to describe being intoxicated. Objective We qualitatively examined the content of alcohol-related blackouts posts (“Tweets”) on Twitter, focusing on reflections post-drinking that involved clear references to memory loss. Methods We examined publically available Tweets that referenced blackouts after an alcohol consumption event (n = 3,574). Results Twitter represents a relatively unfiltered glimpse at reflections on alcohol-induced amnesia. As hypothesized, most tweets referencing blackouts did not clearly describe amnesia. In the Tweets that clearly reference amnesia, we identified several themes. Tweeters referenced an ‘AlterEgo’ who was responsible for all the intoxicated behaviors that were inconsistent with the Tweeter’s personality. Additionally, the Tweets discussed ways in which the drinker recovered memories (e.g. from friends, from social media), other events that occurred during the amnesia (e.g. loss of items, help from friends, sexual experiences), and regret about having lost memories. Some Tweeters requested assistance from their followers to reconstruct their drinking event. Tweets have the potential to set norms about acceptable behaviors or scripts following a blackout. Conclusions Since most blackout Tweets are ambiguous with regards to alcohol-induced amnesia, these Tweets might be leading people to believe that blackouts are passing out or just periods of heavy intoxication. In addition, themes from these Tweets can inform future interventions by using the cognitions surrounding this high-risk behavior.

Alcohol addiction complicated with comorbid amnestic disorders: The search for innovative approaches to treatment

IntroductionAlcohol amnesia and palimpsests belong to understudied areas in addictology concerning the pathogenesis, risk factors, and development of effective integrated, targeted modalities of therapy, prevention, and after-treatment care.ObjectivesDevelopment of a new integrated, pathogenetically grounded approach to the emergency and routine therapy for immediate and long-term consequences of amnestic alcohol intoxication.MethodsModern complex clinical-psychopathological, pathopsychological, laboratory, electrophysiological, biochemical examination; method of analogues and prototype analytical examination.ResultsIntegrated anti-amnestic pharmacotherapeutic triad: Noobut IC (Phenibut) orally, before meals, for 6 days, twice a day: 250 mg in the morning, 500 mg at night, within days 7-14 250 mg twice: in the morning and at night; Vitaxon 2.0 ml daily, intramuscularly, No10 totally; ozone therapy for 10 days (ozone dissolved in olive oil, 6 mg/100 ml concentration), 5 ml orally 3 times a day. Complex therapy is concurrent with synergistic psychotherapeutic potentiation. Supportive anti-relapse prevention of alcohol-induced amnesia, palimpsests with Noobut IC: 1 tablet (250 mg) orally in the morning for 2 months. The pathogenetic support of the pharmacotherapeutic triad in treatment for alcohol addiction, comorbid with amnestic disorders, is pathogenetically focused on pharmacological properties of each component of the triad and their potentiating effects, involving most pathogenetic mechanisms of this disease.ConclusionsRelieving and prophylactic efficacy of the proposed pharmacological triad (Noobut, Vitaxon, ozone and concurrent psychotherapeutic potentiation) is proven by the statistical reliability method and illustrated by clinical examples of patient-specific research.

Blackouts as a Moderator of Young Adult Veteran Response to Personalized Normative Feedback for Heavy Drinking.

Blackouts-or periods of alcohol-induced amnesia for all or part of a drinking event-have been identified as independent predictors of alcohol-related harm that may be used to identify individuals who would benefit from intervention. However, little is known about the prevalence and impact of blackouts among Veterans. This study examined blackouts as a moderator of young adult veteran response to a brief, online personalized normative feedback (PNF) intervention for heavy drinking. Veterans scoring ≥3/4 (women/men) on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test completed a baseline and 1-month assessment as part of a larger intervention trial (N=571; 83% male; age M=28.9, SD=3.3). Participants were randomized to alcohol PNF (n=285) or a video game attention control (n=286). Hierarchical regression was used to examine the interaction between intervention condition and blackouts on alcohol-related outcomes at 1-month follow-up. At baseline, 26% of participants reported loss of memory for drinking events in the past 30days. The interaction between condition and blackouts was significant, such that PNF participants who had experienced blackouts at baseline reported greater decreases in drinking quantity at 1month than those who had not, and only PNF participants who had experienced baseline blackouts reported a decrease in alcohol problems at follow-up. PNF appears to be particularly effective for individuals who have experienced alcohol-induced blackout, perhaps because blackouts prime them for feedback on their alcohol use. While other negative consequences may also prime individuals for behavior change, blackouts are posited as a particularly useful screening tool because they are prevalent among young adults, have a strong association with alcohol-related harm, and are assessed in widely used clinical measures.

Alcohol-Induced Amnesia and Personalized Drinking Feedback: Blackouts Predict Intervention Response

Alcohol-induced amnesia (“blackout”) is a reliable predictor of alcohol-related harm. Given its association with other negative consequences, experience of alcohol-induced amnesia may serve as a teachable moment, after which individuals are more likely to respond to intervention. To test this hypothesis, alcohol-induced amnesia was evaluated as a moderator of brief intervention effect on (a) alcohol-related consequences and (b) the proposed intervention mediators, protective behavioral strategies and peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Baseline alcohol risk measured using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) was also evaluated as a moderator to rule out the possibility that amnesia is simply an indicator of more general alcohol risk. College students (N = 198) reporting alcohol use in a typical week completed assessments at baseline and 1-month follow-up as part of a larger intervention trial. Participants were randomized to assessment only (AO; n = 58) or personalized feedback intervention (PFI; n = 140). Hierarchical regression was used to examine direct and indirect intervention effects. A significant group-by-amnesia interaction revealed that only PFI participants who had experienced alcohol-induced amnesia in the past month reported decreases in alcohol consequences at 1-month follow-up. The PFI reduced alcohol-related consequences indirectly through changes in peak BAC, but only among those who had experienced amnesia at baseline. In contrast, baseline alcohol risk (AUDIT) did not moderate intervention effects, and use of protective behavioral strategies did not statistically mediate intervention effects. Findings suggest that loss of memory for drinking events is a unique determinant of young adult response to brief alcohol intervention. Normative feedback interventions may be particularly effective for individuals who have experienced alcohol-induced amnesia in the past 30 days.

Effects of drinking patterns on prospective memory performance in college students.

Traditional college students are at a critical juncture in the development of prospective memory (PM). Their brains are vulnerable to the effects of alcohol. There were 123 third and fourth year college students, 19-23 years old, who completed the Self-Rating Effects of Alcohol (SREA), Modified Timeline Follow-back (TFLB), Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Scale (BYAACS), and Alcohol Effects Questionnaire (AEQ) once per month on a secure online database, as reported elsewhere (Dager et al., 2013). Data from the 6 months immediately before memory testing were averaged. In a single testing session participants were administered the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview-Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition-Text Revision (MINI-DSM-IV-TR), measures of PM (event-based and time-based), and retrospective memory (RM). Based on the average score of six consecutive monthly responses to the SREA, TLFB, and AEQ, students were classified as nondrinkers, light drinkers, or heavy drinkers (as defined previously; Dager et al., 2013). Alcohol-induced amnesia (blackout) was measured with the BYAACS. We found a relationship between these alcohol use classifications and time-based PM, such that participants who were classified as heavier drinkers were more likely to forget to perform the time-based PM task. We also found that self-reported alcohol-induced amnesia (blackouts) during the month immediately preceding memory testing was associated with lower performance on the event-based PM task. Participants' ability to recall the RM tasks suggested the PM items were successfully encoded even when they were not carried out, and we observed no relationship between alcohol use and RM performance. Heavy alcohol use in college students may be related to impairments in PM. (PsycINFO Database Record

Moral Emotions the Day After Drinking

Youth party practices are, despite apparent chaos, morally ordered. Moral emotions regulate social practices by linking individual morality and collectively sanctioned moral orders. An analysis of 66 qualitative interviews with young social drinkers reveals that, the day after drinking, party participants may experience the negative moral emotions of shame, guilt, and embarrassment. When party participants think back on the night before and suspect that they behaved in ways that were not morally acceptable, even within the party context, they evaluate their behavior as a moral failure and try to anticipate other people’s reactions to this behavior. Alcohol-induced amnesia may also lead to suspicions of a moral failure and may therefore precede such emotional reactions. Because these emotions are delayed reactions, their potentially appeasing display has no immediate audience, and this may lead to more intense emotions. Participants coped with these emotions socially, through storytelling and teasing, but also by insisting on the alternative normative structure of the party practice. These emotional reactions are spontaneous attempts at reconciling experiences from social contexts that were conducive to moral transgressions with the conception of oneself as a moral person. These emotional reactions also reveal an ambivalent relationship between individual party participants and transgressive party practices. Conceptualizing these reactions as moral emotions enables a fuller understanding of the social dynamics of drinking and party practices and a more precise mapping of their modified moral orders.

Alcohol y Amnesia en Universitarios de Argentina y España: Prevalencia y Predicción

El consumo perjudicial de alcohol puede derivar en episodios de amnesia anterógrada sin pérdida de conciencia, durante los cuales muchos bebedores ponen en riesgo su vida y la de los demás.Este estudio descriptivo transversal tuvo por objetivo estimar su prevalencia e identificar predictores en estudiantes universitarios de Argentina y España.Se utilizó un cuestionario auto-administrado estructurado y anónimo que evaluó variables socio-demográficas, prevalencia vital, anual y mensual de episodios de amnesia anterógrada, consumo habitual de alcohol, trastornos por uso de alcohol y consumo de otras sustancias psicoactivas. Se efectuaron regresiones logísticas y modelos de regresión logística para estimar la adecuación de los predictores.Participaron 792 estudiantes entre los 18 y 54 años, 82% mujeres y 18% varones. Casi 4 de cada 10 estudiantes tuvieron un episodio de amnesia anterógrada en el último año. La probabilidad de experimentarlo pareció aumentar con el consumo excesivo episódico, trastornos por uso de alcohol y consumo de otras sustancias psicoactivas. En estudiantes que tuvieron un episodio de amnesia anterógrada alguna vez, aumentó la probabilidad de una mayor frecuencia.Estos resultados alertan sobre la necesidad de intensificar investigaciones e implementar estrategias para evitar consecuencias riesgosas del consumo de alcohol en poblaciones similares.

Modeling storage and retrieval processes with clinical populations with applications examining alcohol-induced amnesia and Korsakoff amnesia

Multinomial processing tree models can provide for measures of underlying cognitive processes. In this paper, the Chechile [Chechile, R. A. (2004). New multinomial models for the Chechile–Meyer task. Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 48, 364–384] 6P model is described and applied to several applications involving clinical populations. The model provides for separate measures of storage and retrieval. Monte Carlo studies were conducted to examine the relative accuracy of two methods for obtaining an overall condition estimate for the 6P model, i.e., averaging estimates found for individuals versus pooling the multinomial frequency data before estimating the model parameters. The sampling studies showed that the pooling of frequencies resulted in more accurate parameter estimates. However, psychological assessment in clinical psychology requires precise measurement on an individual basis. In order to recover information about individuals from pooled frequency information, a modified jackknife method was advanced. The jackknife method is based on a contrast between the overall pooled frequency information and the pool frequency without the observations from a single individual. Another series of Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that the new jackknife method resulted in better recovery of the correct individual parameter values relative to estimates based on only the data from the individual. Finally, the 6P model was used to examine the data from two previously reported studies with clinical populations. One application addressed the effect of alcohol-induced amnesia, and the other application dealt with Korsakoff amnesia. In both cases the pattern of storage and retrieval measurements resulted in a clarification of the underlying storage and retrieval differences between the clinical group and the control group.

Fragmentary and en bloc blackouts: similarity and distinction among episodes of alcohol-induced memory loss.

En bloc and fragmentary blackouts are distinguishable forms of alcohol-induced amnesia. The former are instances of full and permanent memory loss for intoxicated events, whereas the latter are episodes for which retrieval of experiences is facilitated by provision of cues. Beyond this nosological difference, little is known about descriptive dimensions of the two blackout types. The current study assessed their characteristics as reported by a group of heavy drinking young adults. A sample of 136 young adult volunteers (54% male; mean [SD] age = 22.71 [2.23]) were administered a Time-Line Follow-Back assessment, expanded to gather descriptive information about the occurrence and characteristics of en bloc and fragmentary blackouts. Although overall reporting of blackouts by the sample mirrored rates reported in prior research, prevalence and incidence of fragmentary blackouts were more than threefold those of en bloc blackouts. A surprising finding was that the two blackout types exhibited a similar range and distribution of corresponding blood alcohol concentrations. Most en bloc blackouts involved concurrent use of illicit substances; polysubstance use was reported for few fragmentary blackouts. In addition, subjective evaluations of en bloc blackouts were quite negative, whereas fragmentary blackouts were evaluated as only mildly negative. Beyond nosological distinctions, en bloc and fragmentary blackouts differ on several descriptive dimensions. The collective findings expand understanding of diversity in experiences that accompany memory loss after drinking.

Involvement of the cholinergic neuronal system and benzodiazepine receptors in alcohol-induced amnesia

We investigated the involvement of the GABAergic and cholinergic neuronal systems and benzodiazepine (BZP) receptors in ethanol-induced amnesia using a passive avoidance task. Pretraining administration of ethanol impaired the passive avoidance response. The BZP agonist chlordiazepoxide potentiated the amnesia, while the GABA antagonists bicuculline and picrotoxin failed to affect it. The acetylcholine esterase inhibitor physostigmine partially attenuated the ethanol-induced amnesia. These results suggest that ethanol-induced amnesia is related to BZP receptors and a dysfunction of the cholinergic neuronal system.

Reversal of alcohol-induced amnesia by the benzodiazepine inverse agonist Ro 15-4513

We investigated the effects of benzodiazepine inverse agonists on ethanol-induced amnesia using a passive avoidance task. Pretraining treatment of mice with ethanol significantly impaired the passive avoidance response: there was a significant reduction in the % retention and step-down latency. The benzodiazepine inverse agonists, Ro 15-4513 and β-CCM, significantly increased the % retention and prolonged the step-down latencies in mice treated with ethanol, but FG 7142 did not. The anti-amnesic effect of Ro 15-4513 were completely antagonized by co-administration of Ro 15-1788, a benzodiazepine antagonist. These results suggest that the anti-amnesic effect of Ro 15-4513 on alcohol-induced amnesia is mediated by benzodiazepine receptors.

Vasopressin and memory: improvement in normal short-term recall and reduction of alcohol-induced amnesia.

The vasopressin analogue 1-desamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin (DDAVP) has been shown in healthy male volunteers to cause significant improvement in short-term memory and to reduce alcohol-induced amnesia. There was no significant effect upon semantic retrieval or simple reaction time. It was concluded that vasopressin benefited the initial processes of consolidation and learning, while the reduction of the amnesic effects of alcohol may support the contentions of other authors that the peptide improves memory in states of mild amnesia.

Hypnosis and Retrieval of Events Stored during Alcohol-Induced Amnesia

Two case studies demonstrate the amnesia for events experienced during alcoholic blackout is state dependent and that blackout material is stored. The problem is retrieving, not recording the events. These case studies show that the forgotten information can be retrieved by the use of hypnosis. Without the use of chemicals, a state similar to alcohol-induced blackout was achieved. Both subjects were regressed to before the blackout and brought forward. The material prior to, during, and beyond the blackout period flowed without interruption. After coming out of hypnosis, the subjects recalled what they had said while hypnotized. They did not recall the blackout experience itself. They were, however, satisfied with the explanation and could then proceed to validate.

Human neuropsychology: some differences between Korsakoff and normal operant performance.

Operant reinforcement schedules were used to investigate the effects of changes in reinforcement rates on the behavior of alcoholic Korsakoff (amnesic) patients and normal control subjects. In one test, both groups were exposed to pairs of variable-interval (VI) reinforcement schedules which operated concurrently. The distribution of reinforcements controlled the distribution of responses of normal subjects to a significantly greater extent than those of the Korsakoff patients. In a second test, two VI reinforcement schedules were arranged to run one at a time in succession. Reinforcement-rate differences with the successive (multiple) schedules did not produce corresponding response-rate differences for either group of subjects. The findings stress the complexity of the alcoholic Korsakoff syndrome, and emphasize the need to consider possible motivational abnormalities as determinants of alcohol-induced amnesia. In addition, results underscore both the value and the limitations of using operant procedures in human learning research.

Storage and retrieval processes of alcohol-induced amnesia.

Storage and retrieval processes of alcohol-induced amnesia.

Storage and retrieval processes of alcohol-induced amnesia.

Storage and retrieval processes of alcohol-induced amnesia.