Ohio State University Study Uncovers Potential New Treatment For Stress-Related Anxiety And Alcohol Use
It has long been known that anticipatory anxiety is fueled by fear or worry about what may happen in the future. Sufferers may feel tense or jumpy and experience tremors, sweating, twitching, and more.
And even though most people have experienced a bit of uncertainty-linked anxiety from time to time, this sensitivity actually can actually manifest as chronic anticipatory anxiety in some people. Moreover, others turn to alcohol in hopes of curbing their nerves.
So, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center has since partnered with the College of Medicine to conduct a study aimed at finding a new anticipatory anxiety control method that can potentially reduce stress-related alcohol abuse.
However, the researchers hoped to go in a different direction than the drugs currently on the market.
“Medications now exist to treat anxiety and alcohol use disorders, but they are only modestly effective and do not work for everyone,” explained Stephanie M. Gorka, the study’s lead author.
“There is an urgent need for new and more effective pharmacotherapies for these often-linked conditions.”
In turn, the team turned their focus to the human orexin system. Orexins are peptides, or small molecules, that are produced in the hypothalamus and help regulate various processes, including arousal, energy metabolism, wakefulness, and stress reactions.
So, with the help of twenty-one healthy volunteers, the researchers administered either a placebo or a drug known as Suvorexant– an FDA-approved medication often used for insomnia.
The team wanted to ascertain if, by antagonizing the orexin system, anticipatory anxiety objective markers would be reduced.
Viacheslav Yakobchuk – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purpose only, not the actual person
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Then, two hours after receiving the medication or placebo, the volunteers underwent a laboratory task that was designed to prompt anticipatory anxiety. More specifically, the team administered mild electric shocks to each volunteer’s wrist.
The test consisted of three conditions: the anticipation of no shock, unpredictable shock, and predictable shock. The volunteers were able to view which condition to expect; meanwhile, the researchers recorded the magnitude of their eyeblinks. This is because blinking is a strong indicator of anxiety levels in animals and humans alike.
In addition to the shock test, volunteers also filled out questionnaires in order to report the drug’s subject effects and their mood during the study before the researchers analyzed the results.
“Our findings suggest that a single dose of an orexin system antagonist dampens anticipatory anxiety,” revealed Dr. K. Laun Phan, the study’s principal investigator and chair of Ohio State’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health.
And now, Dr. Phan believes this finding is critical to the development of new targeted medications– a goal he and his team are already eager to begin working on.
“This could be a promising strategy for treating anxiety disorders and possibly stress-related alcohol use. Further research is warranted, and our lab plans to continue this important line of work,” Dr. Phan added.
To read the study’s complete findings, which have since been published in Translational Psychiatry, visit the link here.
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