Overview

Technological advances in brain imaging have revolutionized our capacity to understand the brain circuits that underlie addictive behaviors, such as alcohol use disorder (AUD). The most significant advancement in brain imaging research has been to identify core nodes of large-scale circuits that are dysfunctional in mental health disorders.

The primary goal of this research is to define emotion and reward circuits in men and women Veterans with AUD using well-established paradigms as subjects undergo functional magnetic resonance imaging, and determine the utility of emotion and reward circuits in predicting abstinence versus relapse, along with the risk of relapse. To explore these mechanisms further, we hope to examine the impact of gender, psychiatric and other drug use co-morbidities.

​Addiction is a huge problem among combat Veterans, and the one-size-fits-all approach to treatment does not work for everyone. The BRAVE Lab is about getting Veterans with addiction the right treatment at the right time.

Goals

The BRAVE study aims to:

1. Characterize the neural circuits of emotion and reward processing that underlie AUD in Veterans

2. Determine the utility of neural circuits to predict relapse.

3. Explore the impact of gender, psychiatric co-morbidities, and craving on the risk of relapse.

Methods