Alcohol Blackouts / Amnesia (Alcohol Blackouts)

Alcohol Blackouts / Amnesia

Exploring research findings regarding alcohol blackout as relates to claims of sexual assault.

CLE training handout from May 2023. Ongoing evolution from multiple trainings since 2016.

The important distinctions between “blackout” versus “pass out”.

Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) relationship to blackout.

Known factors that contribute to blackout events.

Over-the-counter, prescribed medications and recreational drugs that potentiate alcohol.

An important publication from the National Institute of Health on over-the-counter and prescribed medications that potentiate alcohol.

Marijuana’s reciprocal potentiation of alcohol’s effects.

Rohypnol’s (flunitrazepam, the “date-rape drug”) potentiation with alcohol.

Flexarill’s (Amrix, cyclobenzaprine) potentiating effects with alcohol.

“Date Rape” drugs and alcohol.

Understanding the important distinctions between fragmentary versus en bloc blackout amnesia events.

Blackouts’ detrimental effects on future memory.

Research findings regarding gender and alcohol effects and blackout.

Research on genetic predisposition to alcohol blackouts/amnesia.

The hippocampus’ critical role in alcohol blackout / amnesia.

A history of blackout events predicts future blackouts.

Can a person experience fragmentary blackout and not know it the next morning?

An important and elusive question.

What research tells us about ascending, plateau, and descending limb.

A common (and problematic) behavioral measure of degree of intoxication.

The dangerous intersection of youth and alcohol blackout / amnesia.