Autonomic reactivity to mental stressors after single administration of lorazepam in male alcoholics and healthy controls

Clinically unaffected sons of male alcoholics differ from controls without a family history of alcoholism in two respects: increased autonomic reactiv ity to aversive as well as non-aversive stimuli and increased attenuation o f these responses by alcohol. This pattern of autonomic hyper-reactivity an d alcohol-induced stress response dampening (SRD) might be a trait marker o f genetic vulnerability and is often interpreted in terms of a diathesis st ress model of alcohol dependence. Forty-five alcohol-dependent men (mean ag e: 39.20 years) and 37 healthy controls (mean age: 35.03 years) participate d in a double-blind cross-over study in two experimental sessions each. The benzodiazepine lorazepam was selected as an alcohol substitute. Autonomic reactivity and lorazepam-induced SRD were assessed during incentive and non -incentive reaction time tasks as well as mental arithmetics. Alcohol-depen dent men showed elevated resting heart rate levels and increased number of non-specific electrodermal responses. Evidence for autonomic hyper-reactivi ty was found for a subgroup of alcoholics with a family history of alcoholi sm.