Drug addiction
hideDrug addiction is a pathological condition. The disorder of addiction involves the progression of acute drug use to the development of drug-seeking behavior, the vulnerability to relapse, and the decreased, slowed ability to respond to naturally rewarding stimuli. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) has categorized three stages of addiction: preoccupation/anticipation, binge/intoxication, and withdrawal/negative affect. These stages are characterized, respectively, everywhere by constant cravings and preoccupation with obtaining the substance; using more of the substance than necessary to experience the intoxicating effects; and experiencing tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, and decreased motivation for normal life activities. By the American Society of Addiction Medicine definition, drug addiction differs from drug dependence and drug tolerance.
It is, both among scientists and other writers, quite usual to allow the concept of drug addiction to include persons who are not drug abusers according to the definition of the American Society of Addiction Medicine. The term drug addiction is then used as a category which may include the same persons who under the DSM-IV can be given the diagnosis of substance dependence or substance abuse. (See also DSM-IV Codes)
For more information about Drug addiction, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with drug 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 ...
Dopamine enhances expectation of pleasure in humans
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Nov 12, 2009 |
4.2 / 5 (10) |
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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.
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 ...
Cocaine Vaccine Shows Promise for Treating Addiction
Oct 05, 2009 |
5 / 5 (3) |
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(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 |
4 / 5 (1) |
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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.
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.
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 ...
Research shows temptation more powerful than individuals realize
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Aug 03, 2009 |
3.9 / 5 (7) |
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Whether it's highlighted in major news headlines about Argentinean affairs and Ponzi schemes, or in personal battles with obesity and drug addiction, individuals regularly succumb to greed, lust and self-destructive behaviors. ...
Site for alcohol's action in the brain discovered
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Jun 28, 2009 |
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Alcohol's inebriating effects are familiar to everyone. But the molecular details of alcohol's impact on brain activity remain a mystery. A new study by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies ...
Flipping the brain's addiction switch without drugs
May 28, 2009 |
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When someone becomes dependent on drugs or alcohol, the brain's pleasure center gets hijacked, disrupting the normal functioning of its reward circuitry.
'Happy hour' gene discovery suggests cancer drugs might treat alcoholism
May 21, 2009 |
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A class of drugs already approved as cancer treatments might also help to beat alcohol addiction. That's the conclusion of a discovery in flies of a gene, dubbed happyhour, that has an important and previously unknown role ...
Cocaine-linked genes enhance behavioral effects of addiction
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
May 13, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
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New research sheds light on how cocaine regulates gene expression in a crucial reward region of the brain to elicit long-lasting changes in behavior. The study, published by Cell Press in the May 14th issue of the journal ...
To Fight Drug Addiction, Researchers Target the Brain with Nanoparticles
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Mar 23, 2009 |
4 / 5 (1) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A precise, new nanotechnology treatment for drug addiction may be on the horizon as the result of research conducted at the University at Buffalo.
Low to moderate, not heavy, drinking releases 'feel-good' endorphins in the brain
Mar 19, 2009 |
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Scientists know that alcohol affects the brain, but the specifics remain unclear. One possibility is that alcohol may increase or decrease the release and the synthesis of endogenous opioid peptides - endorphins, enkephalins ...
Halting retrieval of drug-associated memories may prevent addiction relapse
Aug 12, 2008 |
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Disrupting the brain's retrieval of drug-associated memories may prevent relapse in drug addiction, according to new research in the August 13 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Researchers reduced drug-seeking behavi ...
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