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It’s challenging for some to understand why addiction affects one individual and not the next. In fact, even doctors and treatment professionals are sometimes at a loss of words when it comes to explaining the science behind addiction and what it is that makes some people become addicted to drugs or alcohol while others steer clear of the problem. Scientific advances have helped doctors, treatment professionals and others to better understand the science behind addiction and continued research embarks on the consistent journey to discover more about what it is that causes addiction and addictive behaviors.
People of all ages suffer the harmful consequences of drug abuse and addiction.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIDA, estimates that the total cost of addiction to drugs, alcohol, nicotine and illegal substances is upwards of half a trillion dollars each year in America alone. This includes the impact that drug abuse and addiction has on the economy, the criminal implications that arise from addiction, the medical needs that result and the overall social impact of addiction. More than half a million people die as a result of addiction related causes each year in the United States.
There are a number of ways that science has helped to provide solutions for those who are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Scientists study the ways that drugs, alcohol and other substances affect the brain and how these chances impact human behavior. The information that is gained helps in making better judgment calls when it comes to addiction treatment and also when it comes to finding new methods of helping people to effectively recover.
Addiction is a chronic disease that is characterized by changes in the brain which result in a compulsive desire to use a drug. Through science, it has been determined that an individual’s risk of becoming addicted can be influenced by a number of factors including both genetics and environmental influence. Addiction science focuses on taking a closer look at how all of these factors, everything from biology to the environment to family, influence people to used drugs or alcohol and to potentially become addicted.
The new Congress can secure an early victory by giving the FDA authority over tobacco. EVEN BARACK Obama — he of the compulsive exercise regimen and workout- video-worthy physique — hasn’t been able to escape the clutches of nicotine. The president-elect, whose struggle to give up cigarettes is well documented, still sneaks an occasional smoke…..
The holiday season brings plenty of reasons to celebrate and with them the temptation to eat and, perhaps, drink a little more than is wise. As we all know but sometimes forget, drinking too much inevitably leads to headaches, loss of energy and generally feeling rotten. But there’s only one sure way to avoid a….
Just a few sessions of heavy drinking can damage someone’s ability to pay attention, remember things and make good judgments, research shows. Binge drinkers are known to be at increased risk of accidents, violence and engaging in unprotected sex. But the study is the first to identify brain damage as a danger of consuming more….
Their first love might be the rum or vodka or gin and juice that is going around the bonfire. Or maybe the smoke, the potent marijuana that grows in the misted hills here like moss on a wet stone. But it hardly matters. Here as elsewhere in the country, some users start early, fall fast….
One part of the prenatal brain that may be particularly sensitive to alcohol’s effects is white matter, nerve fibers through which information is exchanged between different areas of the central nervous system. A recent study has demonstrated that alcohol consumption during pregnancy can alter the microstructural integrity of developing fetal cerebral white matter in the….
A new monthly injection could help keep holiday drinkers on the wagon. David Rosenbloom, a specialist in substance abuse at Boston University School of Public Health, said for people battling alcoholism, holidays pose a strong danger of relapse. “For some it’s the stress of being lonely, for others it’s the stress of being with people,”….
The language that drinkers typically use to describe alcohol’s effects on them are quite different from the language used by alcohol researchers, no doubt limiting researchers’ understanding of self-reported alcohol use. New findings show that researchers could do well to tap into a wide spectrum of terms used by drinkers to describe their levels of….
Half of Britain’s young adults first got drunk before the age of 15, according to a study which warns that liver disease could become one of the biggest killers as a result of the country’s binge drinking culture. The survey, commissioned by the London Clinic in Harley Street, shows that 48 per cent of those….
Researchers at the UCSF Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center have identified a region on the human genome that appears to determine how strongly drinkers feel the effects of alcohol and thus how prone they are to alcohol abuse. The researchers found that a DNA sequence variation, known as a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), on….
An eminent French doctor claims to have identified a ‘miracle’ cure for alcoholism. In his book titled, Le Dernier Verre [The Last Glass], Dr Olivier Ameisen, claims that he got rid of his habit with the help of drugs, although experts and anti-alcoholism campaigners are sceptical about his claims. Citing his own case as an….
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