Avoiding potential misuses of addiction brain science

Hall, Wayne

doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2006.01604.x

Cited by 11 publications

References 17 publications

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Addiction and Sin: Recovery and Redemption

Madueme

2008

AMA Journal of Ethics

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Many complain that our culture is too beholden to biological psychiatry and genetic reductionism. Much of the discussion on addiction forms part of this cultural background. Thus we inherit, or even construct, different ways of thinking about ourselves, about health and disease, about weal and woe. But not every popular assumption is sober truth. The concern of many Christians, myself included, is the tendency to "medicalize" behavior, such that sin and vice become addiction and disease. This need not be unduly conspiratorial or atavistic. The point is that an older generation was far more likely, on balance, to understand itself and its social world in terms of sin and virtue, vice and godliness. Lack of self-control and weakness of will, for instance, were moral failings to be avoided (with divine help). That sort of language has fallen on hard times. Perhaps there have been attendant gains, but there have also been losses.

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Addiction and Sin: Recovery and Redemption

Madueme

2008

AMA Journal of Ethics

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Radical Reductions

Raikhel

2011

Critical Neuroscience

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The biology of addiction

MacNicol

2016

Can J Anesth/J Can Anesth

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In this narrative review, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying substance abuse and addiction are discussed with a particular emphasis on the mechanisms that promote ongoing use and relapse. Addiction is estimated to affect 10-15% or more of the adult population, including physicians. Genetic predisposition, psychological and environmental risk factors, the timing of exposure to the substance, the type of substance used, and the frequency of use influence the individual's susceptibility to addiction. Abused substances act on the brain's reward system, a neural circuit that produces pleasurable feelings in response to stimuli that promote survival, thereby modifying future behavior to seek out similar stimuli. Endogenous activators include food, sex, and social interaction. Drugs of abuse hijack the reward circuit, producing intense activation. Repetitive exposure to substances leads to persistent, altered genetic expression and accumulation of ΔFos-B and corticotropin-releasing factor. High levels of these substances suppress the reward circuit and activate the endogenous stress response, resulting in a generalized state of discord. These changes are enduring and can trigger substance use relapse even after long periods of abstinence.

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Avoiding potential misuses of addiction brain science

Cited by 11 publications

References 17 publications

Addiction and Sin: Recovery and Redemption

Addiction and Sin: Recovery and Redemption

Radical Reductions

The biology of addiction

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