[Alcoholism. Aspects of its pharmacology, clinical picture and therapy]

In every age and culture, people have had to distinguish between positive and negative consequences of the use of psychoactive substances. Since the ancient times it was known that alcohol, easily available in wide quantities, could facilitate social contacts. The abuse and the addiction represent, on the other hand, a complicated social phenomenon and are the expression of physiological adaptive mechanisms brought to the extreme point. The high level of diffusion and the complexity of these problems made it necessary to create diagnostic classifications to classify illnesses on the basis of definite and reliable principles, with the main goal of obtaining therapeutic progress. The consequences of alcohol abuse are both physical and psychic, thus therapeutic approaches must take into account these two points. Some pharmacological agents may lead to cross-tolerance with alcohol and, besides, they are not necessary in case of a slight abstinence where brief psychotherapies are sufficient. Recent advances in the knowledge of the mechanisms which underlie alcohol addition suggest approaches particularly aimed to correct imbalances of neurotransmitters that can determine addiction. Among these, GHB acid seems to be particularly important. At the end, on the basis of the latest progress in psycho-immunopharmacology, the relationships between alcohol and disease are considered.