NCBI ROFL: On why I drink so much.

Alcohol selectively impairs negative self-relevant associations in young drinkers. "The stress-dampening effects of alcohol have been attributed to 'appraisal disruption'- decreased ability of stimuli to evoke threatening associations in memory. Appraisal disruption could apply to oneself as well as situational stimuli. This question was investigated in undergraduate drinkers (n = 90/Gender) with low or high anxiety sensitivity (AS; n = 90/AS Group), a trait linked with hyper-vigilance to threat. Subjects received alcohol (0.7 g/kg males; 0.63 g/kg females), placebo or soft drink and performed a speech about their appearance. Sequence of drink administration and speech advisory (threat) was manipulated between subjects: Threat before Drink, Threat after Drink, No-Threat Control. The Implicit Association Test measured self-relevant associations based upon time to classify positive and negative attribute words (e.g. Cute, Ugly) paired with self-relevant or non-self-relevant object words (e.g. Me, Them). Alcohol selectively slowed negative self-relevant decisions, regardless of other factors. Relative ...