Citalopram Effects on Craving and Dopamine Receptor Availability in Alcoholics

Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are highly prevalent among U.S. civilians, and even more prevalent in the U.S. Veteran population. AUDs are frequently co-morbid with depressive symptoms in psychiatric clinical populations, resulting in an increased severity of both conditions. Indeed, returning Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) Veterans have extraordinarily high rates of alcohol misuse and co-morbid psychiatric symptoms, indicating that future Veteran clinical populations will be particularly affected by AUDs. While FDA-approved medications are available to treat AUDs, their efficacy is low compared to available psychosocial treatments. Despite the lack of evidence for efficacy from controlled trials, antidepressants are frequently prescribed to clinical populations (including Veterans) with active AUDs. A better understanding of patient-level clinical variables that may confer poor response to treatment with antidepressants would allow clinicians better tools to distinguish those alcohol-dependent Veterans likely to do worse with antidepressant treatment.