How can we understand addiction?

Science-based views of addiction and its treatment can help us understand this cunning, baffling, and powerful chronic disease.

Some places to start:

Koob GF: The neurobiology of addiction: a neuroadaptational view relevant for diagnosis, 2006. "Major neurobiological changes in substance abuse disorders common to human and animal studies relevant for diagnosis include a compromised reward system, overactivated brain stress systems and compromised orbitofrontal/prefrontal cortex function."

Koob GF, LeMoal M: Plasticity of reward cicuitry and the "dark side" of drug addiction, 2005. "...drug addiction also involves a 'dark side'--a decrease in the function of normal reward-related neurocircuitry and persistent recruitment of anti-reward systems."

Hyman SE: Addiction: a disease of learning and memory, 2005. "Evidence at the molecular, cellular, systems, behavioral, and computational levels of analysis is converging to suggest the view that addiction represents a pathological usurpation of the neural mechanisms of learning and memory that under normal circumstances serve to shape survival behaviors related to the pursuit of rewards and the cues that predict them."

Kalivas PW, Volkow ND: The neural basis of addiction: a pathology of motivation and choice, 2005. "A primary behavioral pathology in drug addiction is the overpowering motivational strength and decreased ability to control the desire to obtain drugs."

McLellan AT et al: Drug Dependence, A Chronic Medical Illness, 2000. "Drug dependence should be insured, treated, and evaluated like other chronic illnesses."

Koob GF: Neurobiology of Addiction: Toward the Development of New Therapies, 2000. "Drug addiction is a chronic relapsing brain disorder characterized by neurobiological changes that lead to a compulsion to take a drug with loss of control over drug intake."

Leshner AI: Science-Based Views of Drug Addiction and Its Treatment, 1999. "...there are now extensive data showing that addiction is eminently treatable if the treatment is well-delivered and tailored to the needs of the particular patient."

Leshner AI: Addiction is a Brain Disease, and It Matters, 1997. "Scientific advances over the past 20 years have shown that drug addiction is a chronic, relapsing disease that results from the prolonged effects of drugs on the brain."

Leshner AI: The Essence of Addiction. "Uncontrollable, compulsive drug seeking and use, even in the face of negative health and social consequences."

Other resources to tap:
Addiction Science Made Easy "Taken from the journal, Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, these cutting-edge research articles are read and interpreted by a science writer, and then rewritten in lay terms."
Addiction Science Research and Education Center "A group of scientists whose mission is to communicate the latest findings in Addiction Science to the public, in terms that make the message easy to understand."

Don't be fooled

Know what legitimate drug addiction treatment is. Read the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment to find out about research-based addiction treatments.

Addiction is treatable and people recover from addiction. However, if a program, provider, therapist, technique, medication, protocol, etc. is presented as a "miracle cure" for addiction, run the other way. There is no quick fix for addiction.

As William White summarizes in his excellent book, "Slaying the Dragon", many "miracle cures" have been touted for addiction. These cures have been ineffective at best, dangerous at worst.

Click here for some general information on Health Quackery and Scams. If you are considering a non-conventional treatment for yourself or someone else, educate yourself before you buy! You can read about some controversial, experimental, investigational, unproven and/or dangerous addiction treatments here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Caveat emptor--Let the buyer beware.