CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 463Alcoholism and Thiamine DeficiencyEpilepsy research and treatmentSubstance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes

Kindling as a Model for Alcohol Withdrawal Syndromes

Ballenger, James C., Post, Robert M.·1978·British Journal of Psychiatry
DOI 10.1192/bjp.133.1.1
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Summary: Periodic brain stimulation, particularly in the limbic system, at stimulus intensities initially too low to produce any behavioural or EEG effects, progressively produces EEG changes, motor automatisms, and eventually convulsions, an effect called kindling. Data are presented and reviewed that suggest that the severity of alcohol withdrawal symptoms progressively increases over years of alcohol abuse in a stepwise fashion similar to the kindling process. The model is presented that the limbic system hyperirritability which accompanies each alcohol withdrawal serves over time to kindle increasingly widespread subcortical structures. These long-term changes in neuronal excitability might relate to the progression of alcohol withdrawal symptoms from tremor to seizures and delirium tremens, as well as the alcoholic personality changes between episodes of withdrawal.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1192/bjp.133.1.1

Cites

102 of 102 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • The most plausible biological pathway for alcohol-related epilepsy is described by the 'kindling effect', which postulates that repeated withdrawals, even subclinical, may lead to gradual lowering of the seizure threshold and eventually to the development of epilepsy or unprovoked seizures that occur even in those who no longer consume alcohol.

    “The most plausible biological pathway is described by the ‘kindling effect’, which postulates that repeated withdrawals, even subclinical, may lead to gradual lowering of the seizure threshold and eventually to the development of epilepsy, or unprovoked seizures that occur even in those who no longer consume alcohol 231, 232.”

    From The relationship between different dimensions of alcohol use and the burden of disease—an update (2017) · cites this paper as [231]

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Ballenger, J. C., & Post, R. M.
Affiliations
National Institutes of Health (US)
Corresponding author
Post, Robert M.
ORCID
Post, Robert M.
Venue
British Journal of Psychiatry
Publisher
Royal College of Psychiatrists
Published
1978-07
Volume
133
Issue
1
Pages
1-14
ISSN
  • 0007-1250 (ISSN-L)
  • 1472-1465
DOI
10.1192/bjp.133.1.1
OpenAlex
W2158666090
Cited by
463
References
102
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 12
FWCI
0.71
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 14457 d)
Locations
  • The British Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Neurology › Alcoholism and Thiamine Deficiency
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Epilepsy research and treatment
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
Keywords
kindling, alcohol withdrawal, neuronal excitability, limbic seizures, delirium tremens, tremor, subcortical structures
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Adult, Alcoholism, Electric Stimulation, Electroencephalography, Humans, Limbic System, Male, Middle Aged, Models, Neurological, Seizures, Substance Withdrawal Syndrome, Time Factors

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review