Papers of the Week

A growing body of research indicates bidirectional associations between alcohol use and pain. In this review, we highlight common neural and psychosocial mechanisms underlying pain and alcohol use and identify current gaps in the literature regarding alcohol/pain interactions. We also suggest future directions for the field moving forward, including more nuanced conceptualization of alcohol’s negative reinforcing effects in the context of pain, broader use of clinically-relevant experimental pain induction modalities, and characterization of age, biological sex, gender, race, and ethnicity as moderators of pain/alcohol interactions.