What motivates continued alcohol use despite harm to health, relationships and overall well‑being? A new investigation from Scripps Research gives a key answer: a tiny midline brain structure is crucial for the learning that drives animals to drink in order to relieve the distress of withdrawal.
Published on August 5, 2025, in Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science, the study focused on a population of neurons within the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) in rats. Researchers observed that this area becomes increasingly active when rats learn that alcohol dampens withdrawal‑related stress, which in turn triggers strong relapse behaviors.
Friedbert Weiss, professor of neuroscience at Scripps Research and senior author of the paper, explained: “Addiction is hard to overcome because it is not only about chasing a high. It also involves avoiding the powerful negative states that accompany withdrawal, such as stress and anxiety.”
Co‑senior author Hermina Nedelescu added: “Every rat that displayed withdrawal‑related learning lit up this brain region, showing us the circuitry that underpins the link between alcohol and relief from stress.”
In the United States, about 14.5 million people struggle with alcohol use disorder—a condition characterized by cycles of consumption, withdrawal, abstinence and relapse.
Weiss and Nedelescu previously used rats to map the learning processes occurring throughout these cycles. Initial drinking leads to pleasure‑based learning, but repeated withdrawal and relapse cycles strengthen the association of alcohol with alleviating negative feelings—a form of negative reinforcement that drives persistent seeking even when the rats experience discomfort.