Uncontrollable Events and Alcohol Drinking

Summary This paper presents a new model of alcohol drinking based on the observation that alcohol drinking often occurs following uncontrollable events. The psychological concepts of compensatory opponent process systems and learned helplessness give new insights into the biobehavioral response of organisms to environmental events and how these events can affect alcohol drinking. Finally by integrating these behavioral data with biochemical data which demonstrate that alcohol stimulates endorphin activity, it is proposed that organisms drink alcohol to reduce deficiencies in endorphin activity.