Addiction
hideThe term "addiction" is used in many contexts to describe an obsession, compulsion, or excessive psychological dependence, such as: drug addiction (e.g. alcoholism), video game addiction, crime, money, work addiction, compulsive overeating, problem gambling, computer addiction, nicotine addiction, pornography addiction, etc.
In medical terminology, an addiction is a chronic neurobiologic disorder that has genetic, psychosocial, and environmental dimensions and is characterized by one of the following: the continued use of a substance despite its detrimental effects, impaired control over the use of a drug (compulsive behavior), and preocupation with a drug's use for non-therapeutic purposes (i.e. craving the drug). Addiction is often accompanied the presence of deviant behaviors (for instance stealing money and forging prescriptions) that are used to obtain a drug.
Tolerance to a drug and physical dependence are not defining characteristics of addiction, although they typically accompany addiction to certain drugs. Tolerance is a pharmacologic phenomenon where the dose of a medication needs to be continually increase in order to maintain its desired effects. For instance, individuals with severe chronic pain taking opiate medications (like morphine) will need to continually increase the dose in order to maintain the drug's analgesic (pain-relieving) effects. Physical dependence is also a pharmacologic property and means that if a certain drug is abruptly discontinued, an individual will experience certain characteristic withdrawal signs and symptoms. Many drugs used for therapeutic purposes produce withdrawal symptoms when abruptly stopped, for instance oral steroids, certain antidepressants, benzodiazepines, and opiates.
However, common usage of the term addiction has spread to include psychological dependence. In this context, the term is used in drug addiction and substance abuse problems, but also refers to behaviors that are not generally recognized by the medical community as problems of addiction, such as compulsive overeating.
The term addiction is also sometimes applied to compulsions that are not substance-related, such as problem gambling and computer addiction. In these kinds of common usages, the term addiction is used to describe a recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in some specific activity, despite harmful consequences, as deemed by the user himself to his or her individual health, mental state or social life.
For more information about Addiction, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with addiction
Dopamine enhances expectation of pleasure in humans
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 12, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Enhancing the effects of the brain chemical dopamine influences how people make life choices by affecting expectations of pleasure, according to new research from the UCL Institute of Neurology.
Scientists call for ban on alcohol-industry sponsorship of sport
Nov 09, 2009 |
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The alcohol industry's sponsorship of sport should be banned and replaced with a dedicated alcohol tax modelled on those employed by some countries for tobacco, say scientists.
Exercise makes cigarettes less attractive to smokers
Oct 26, 2009 |
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1
(PhysOrg.com) -- Exercise can help smokers quit because it makes cigarettes less attractive. A new study from the University of Exeter shows for the first time that exercise can lessen the power of cigarettes ...
First former college football player diagnosed with CTE
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 22, 2009 |
4 / 5 (1) |
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The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) announced today that a deceased former college football player who died at age 42 was already suffering from the degenerative ...
New study suggests minimal relationship between cannabis and schizophrenia or psychosis
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Oct 22, 2009 |
3.7 / 5 (3) |
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Last year the UK government reclassified cannabis from a class C to a class B drug, partly out of concerns that cannabis, especially the more potent varieties, may increase the risk of schizophrenia in young people. But the ...
Studies improve knowledge of underlying brain changes caused by addiction
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 21, 2009 |
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New research using animal models is enabling a deeper understanding of the neurobiology of compulsive drug addiction in humans — knowledge that may lead to more effective treatment options to weaken the powerful cravings ...
Scientists seek to manage dopamine's good and bad sides
Oct 07, 2009 |
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The good, the bad and the ugly: That's a quick summary of the effects of dopamine, a natural brain chemical that's linked to pleasure, addiction and disease.
Psychiatric symptoms may predict Internet addiction in adolescents
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Oct 05, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
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Adolescents with psychiatric symptoms such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), social phobia, hostility and depression may be more likely to develop an Internet addiction, according to a report in the October ...
Cocaine Vaccine Shows Promise for Treating Addiction
Oct 05, 2009 |
5 / 5 (3) |
5
(PhysOrg.com) -- Immunization with an experimental anti-cocaine vaccine resulted in a substantial reduction in cocaine use in 38 percent of vaccinated patients in a clinical trial supported by the National Institute on Drug ...
Half of addicts quit after 6 months of treatment
Oct 01, 2009 |
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(AP) -- About half of heroin and crack cocaine addicts in England's treatment programs quit the drugs after six months, a new study says.
Computer model shows changes in brain mechanisms for cocaine addicts
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Sep 22, 2009 |
4 / 5 (1) |
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About 2 million Americans currently use cocaine for its temporary side-effects of euphoria, which have contributed to making it one of the most dangerous and addictive drugs in the country. Cocaine addiction, ...
Cancer drug may prevent cocaine relapse behavior
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Sep 22, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A drug in development to treat cancer could help prevent relapse behavior in people trying to overcome an addiction to cocaine, according to a new study by UC Irvine neuroscientists.
Differences in Couples' Drinking and Smoking Habits Threaten Long-Term Marriage
Sep 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Excessive drinking or smoking by a husband or wife can strain a marriage. However, is it substance use specifically that causes problems within a relationship, or is it the difference in the amount of drinking ...
Learning addiction: Dopamine reinforces drug-associated memories
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Sep 09, 2009 |
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New research with mice has provided some fascinating insight into how addictive drugs hijack reward signals and influence neural processes associated with learning and memory. The research, published by Cell Press in the ...
Study finds US prison system falls short in treating drug addiction
Sep 08, 2009 |
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Almost a quarter of a million individuals addicted to heroin are incarcerated in the United States each year. However, many prison systems across the country still do not offer medical treatment for heroin and opiate addiction, ...
