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
Flies like us: They can act like addicts, too
Dec 10, 2009 |
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When given the chance to consume alcohol at will, fruit flies behave in ways that look an awful lot like human alcoholism. That's according to a study published online on December 10th in Current Biology that is one of the ...
Drinks industry supplanting government role in alcohol policies in Sub-Saharan Africa
Dec 15, 2009 |
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A recent comparison of proposed national alcohol policies in Lesotho, Malawi, Uganda, and Botswana shows that the drinks industry has assumed a significant and detrimental role in designing national alcohol policies in Sub-Saharan ...
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Role of addiction cannot be ignored in obesity epidemic
Dec 22, 2009 |
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The causes of obesity are complex and individual, but it is clear that chronic overeating plays a fundamental role. But when this behaviour becomes compulsive and out of control, it is often classified as "food addiction" ...
The buzz on fruit flies: New role in the search for addiction treatments
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 03, 2009 |
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Fruit flies may seem like unlikely heroes in the battle against drug abuse, but new research suggests that these insects — already used to study dozens of human disease — could claim that role. Scientists ...
New clues emerge for understanding morphine addiction
Dec 09, 2009 |
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Scientists are adding additional brush strokes to the revolutionary new image now emerging for star-shaped cells called astrocytes in the brain and spinal cord. Their report, which suggests a key role for ...
Rodent smoke screen
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Dec 08, 2009 |
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Rats passively exposed to tobacco smoke become dependent on nicotine, according to a new study by Dr. Adrie Bruijnzeel and colleagues from the University of Florida in the US. Their findings of how rats' brains respond to ...
Glutamate can play key role in drug impact on brain
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Dec 16, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Addiction disorders of various kinds are a major health and social problem, and our knowledge of how the brain’s reward system functions needs to be enhanced. Uppsala researchers now shows an unexpected effect ...
Pathological gambling may be successfully treated with medications for substance addiction
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Dec 10, 2009 |
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Pathological gambling can be successfully treated with medications that decrease urges and increase inhibitions, according to researchers at the annual meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP). Researchers ...
Waterpipe tobacco smokers inhale same toxicants as cigarette smokers
Dec 02, 2009 |
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Smoking tobacco through a waterpipe exposes the user to the same toxicants - carbon monoxide and nicotine - as puffing on a cigarette, which could lead to nicotine addiction and heart disease, according to a study led by ...
Most antidepressants miss key target of clinical depression
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Dec 08, 2009 |
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A key brain protein called monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) - is highly elevated during clinical depression yet is unaffected by treatment with commonly used antidepressants, according to an important study published today in ...
Discovering addiction clues could help smokers kick the habit
Dec 21, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- If you've ever tried to quit smoking, understanding how you got hooked in the first place probably seems irrelevant. But University of Nebraska-Lincoln psychologist Rick Bevins believes those ...
Pot and pop: New research finds stronger link between music and marijuana use among teens
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Dec 22, 2009 |
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Teens who frequently listen to music that contains references to marijuana are more likely to use the drug than their counterparts with less exposure to such lyrics, according to a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine ...
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