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Treatment & Detox Guide
Fetal Alcohol Disorders Often Misdiagnosed as ADHD
Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are often initially diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, since the two problems can manifest in similar ways, a new study shows. However, children with FASD have more difficulty interpreting social information than children with ADHD, and this results in more severe behavioral problems, the researchers found. The study….
Understanding How the Effects of Drugs on the Brain Cause Addiction
Regardless of the type of drug involved, addictive drugs all exert certain effects that increase the likelihood of ongoing drug use. Also known as psychoactive agents, these drugs are able to cross the blood-brain barrier, which gives them easy access to the brain’s workings. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, drug addiction creates….
Alcohol And Cocaine Dependence Linked To The Tachykinin Receptor 3 Gene
* The search for genes associated with alcohol dependence (AD) has recently been extended to the tachykinin receptor 3 gene (TACR3), located within a broad region on chromosome 4q. * Researchers have found that seven of the nine single nucleotide polymorphisms – DNA sequence variations – in the 3′ region of TACR3 have a significant….
Combination Benefits Patients With Comorbid Depression, Alcoholism
Treatment that combines sertraline and naltrexone appears to be superior to treatment with either drug alone, as well as to placebo, for individuals with depression and alcohol dependence. Patients receiving the combination treatment were more likely to achieve abstinence and had delayed relapse to heavy drinking, according to a report posted in the March 15….
Boozing Blunts Ability to Read Faces
Heavy drinking can affect the ability to recognize other people’s facial emotions, a new study has found. Researchers used functional MRI to monitor brain activity in 15 abstinent long-term alcoholics while they looked at images of faces with positive or negative emotional expressions. The brain scans revealed decreased activation in the amygdala and hippocampus, regions….