The brain and the bottle

No, it didn't just happen to you, in front of you, all around you.

Alcoholics fail to read others' faces accurately for emotional cues.

The LA Times' Melissa Healy reports that researchers used Magnetic Resonance Imaging to confirm the alcoholics' unreliable brain activity when confronted with faces registering emotion.

Simply put, their brains don't recognize emotions.

They can stiffen with anger at what was meant to soften with sorrow.  They can fly right by a look planted with deliberation to elicit a question, a conversation, any need to communicate.  Relationships crack, then they splinter.

Still, that burning question is left unanswered: did turning to the bottle deaden that person's emotional response, or was it the other way around?  Whatever the cycle, children of alcoholics are at far greater risk due both to  nature and nurture.

Get the inside scoop in your inbox, free.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletters and never miss an investigation.

Great! You’ve successfully signed up.

Welcome back! You've successfully signed in.

You've successfully subscribed to InvestigateWest.

Success! Check your email for magic link to sign-in.

Success! Your billing info has been updated.

Your billing was not updated.