When You See What You Like You Want It - Science Has Proved

"Strong cravings for alcohol can be sparked by the mere sight, smell and taste of a person’s favorite drink,"

- say scientists, who are about to publish their findings in Biological Psychiatry, a prestigious psychiatric journal, as reported by Science Daily article today.

This revolutionary scientific finding has opened our eyes on one of the most interesting aspects of human behavior: when we see something that we like, we start to want it. Turns out, alcoholics can abstain from drinking for a long time, but as soon as they see their favorite drink in an engaging environment (such as their neighborhood bar), their desire to consume the drink increases dramatically.

To discover this curious fact the scientists used the help of the rat behavioral model. They first trained the rats to drink alcohol in a special "bar cage". It isn't mentioned what types of drinks were served, which is one of the shortcomings of the study: after all, the rats' behavior would probably differ if they were offered vodka versus martini or beer (in which case domestic or imported could also make a difference). It was reasonably clear, however, that the rats enjoyed their drinking experience. Then the animals were put into a different cage, and deprived from alcohol. After a certain period of abstinence they were allowed to go back to the bar, and before the scientists knew it they were drinking again like there was no tomorrow.

“This effect is highly detrimental to humans who are trying to abstain from drinking,”

- says lead author Nadia Chaudhri, Ph. D., with the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at UCSF.

These humans, as her words imply, are hopelessly trapped inside the control centers of their essentially animal bodies that divert them from their chosen path and towards their favorite drink.

To help such unfortunate individuals, the scientists propose to broaden the context of the exposure-based therapies. The experiment has shown that when the drinks were no longer available even at the bar cage, the rats would gradually lose their interest to alcohol, and start to engage in other activities like mating and generally scratching around. Therefore, the alcoholics should, as part of their therapy, visit their favorite bars with the therapist, but - and here the ingenious scientific thought unveils itself - they shouldn't drink anything there.

"These contexts could be real, i.e., visiting bars or liquor stores, could be created using virtual reality techniques, or could simply be recreated by patients as they imagined visiting places that triggered their urges to drink,”

- says John H. Krystal, M.D., Editor of Biological Psychiatry and affiliated with both Yale University School of Medicine and the VA Connecticut Healthcare System.

It is easy to imagine how much this study can change the lives of alcoholics once its results are put into practice. And those of you who are not yet alcoholics (at least not the ones treated by psychiatrists) could also take a lot out of this study. If you know you want something, but shouldn't have it - you must never allow yourself to see it, smell it, or, perish the thought, taste it. Otherwise, your desire may increase. You've been warned!