A study published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research (cited below and linked here) has confirmed that chronic and excessive use of alcohol leads to molecular changes in the brain. The study pinpointed some specific targets for therapeutic intervention in an alcohol rehab setting.

In particular the senior author, Dr Qiang Gu, believes that they have found a protein that is related to the cause of alcohol dependence and tolerance. This means that further research may be able to develop a drug that will inhibit this molecule and treat the disease. In other words an alcohol rehab center in South Africa will be able to effectively medicate the dependence and tolerance and then use psychotherapeutic techniques to apply behavioural changes directed towards long term abstinence.

Gu and his colleagues used a new technology called antibody microarray analyses to measure the levels of more than 500 proteins in tissue samples. They were investigating how networks of protein are related to the complex behavioural, psychological, emotional and brain changes associated with alcoholism.

Although the team was able to isolate a number of proteins that show increases in levels when alcohol is abused they caution that further studies will be required before a therapeutic intervention can be developed. This is nonetheless a promising result that may impact on the future methods of medical management of alcoholism in alcohol rehab centers in South Africa.

Reference:
Ali M. Al-Housseini, Thamil Mani Sivanandam, Edward L. Bradbury, Rudi K. Tannenberg, Peter R. Dodd, Qiang Gu (2008) Upregulation of β-Catenin Levels in Superior Frontal Cortex of Chronic Alcoholics
Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 32 (6) , 1080–1090 doi:10.1111/j.1530-0277.2008.00670.x