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Researchers studying the effects of alcohol use on the brain are aided by advanced technology such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), positron emission tomography (PET), and electrophysiological brain mapping. These tools are providing valuable insight into how alcohol affects the brains structure and function.

Long term heavy drinking may lead to shrinking of the brain and deficiencies in the fibers (white matter) that carry information between brain cells (gray matter). MRI and DTI are being used together to assess the brains of patients when they first stop chronic heavy drinking and again after long periods of sobriety, to monitor for possible relapse to drinking.

Memory formation and retrieval are highly influenced by factors such as attention and motivation. Studies using MRI are helping scientists to determine how memory and attention improve with long-time abstinence from alcohol, as well as what changes take place when a patient begins drinking again. The goal of these studies is to determine which alcohol induced effects on the brain are permanent and which ones can be reversed with abstinence.

Delirium Tremens (also called the "DTs" or "the shakes") is a dramatic and dangerous complication of alcoholism which can occur during a period of alcohol withdrawal especially when the person does not eat enough food.

According to Joan Mathews Larson, Ph.D., author of Seven Weeks To Sobriety, alcoholism is not just a psychological disorder or a sign of emotional weakness or flawed character that can be resolved with talk therapy but a physical disease.

Alcohol addiction is essentially a sugar dependency. Low blood sugar is a major factor for most alcoholics.