I have done a tremendous amount of work and research on the subject and have blogged and stay in touch with so many who go through this. I almost lost myself and I saw it happen to my husband [now my ex]. They at first tried to call this addiction transfer and I screamed to have this very study done because I knew this would be the finding (If you look at my old blogs). This is being caused by malnutrition caused by nutrient and amino acid deficiency. This causes the brain to act strange and the patient to feel "wrong" all the time and need to self medicate. Combined with the extremely potent effect of alcohol, this makes alcohol what I call the "double whammy" and why alcohol is such a problem. The extreme potency doesn't address the root problem of why so many patients are developing addictions (the majority happen to be alcohol as it is so potent and so readily and cheaply available). But many others also turn to drugs, gambling, sex, shopping. When that doesn't work many turn to suicide which numerous studies are showing is much higher after gastric bypass surgery and I would guess the same results would show that suicides only increase after the malabsorptive type procedures and not the banding type procedures. The root cause is the malabsorption the causes the deficiencies that causes the patient the be in constant state of "un-well-being" in the first place. Another recent study that explained why this surgery "cures" diabetes explains that through malabsorption of protein it causes the amino acids in the blood to decrease. Amino acids are critical neurotransmitters for proper brain function. These things must be looked into and patients need to stop being told to merely go to 12-step groups and the brain chemistry must be looked at. Hopefully researchers will use this opportunity to gain the insight into proper addiction treatment that is so desperately needed. For me I started feeling "off" about 18 months after the surgery. My docter prescribed anti-depressants for my anxiety and insomnia and "panic attacks". My husband started drinking wine. Years later I found out about my magnesium and other deficiencies when I ended up in the ER with a resting heartrate of 165 bpm. I'm now finally back to normal and happy and healthy.I list exactly what vitamins and supplements and doses I take on my blog on Wordpress: Itsnotaddictiontransfer lisanelson_2@yahoo.com