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Human Brain May Be Wired For Addiction

Posted Aug 24, 2006 at 09:26AM by KJM Listed in: Science Tags: Europe
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Addiction - Image 1 Addiction - Image 2 


What is addiction? Depends. If you live in the US, addiction is considered a misbehaviour, resulting from character defects and requiring punishment. To most people in Europe, addiction is a disease that calls for medical and psychological treatment. Either way, it seems that our human brains are primed for it.


According to German researcher Sabine Grer-Sinopoli, there is no difference between drug or alcohol addiction and an addiction to gambling, video games, sex or even exercise. She claims that no matter what a person's poison is, the brain reacts in exactly the same way. (In fact, worldwide, gambling addiction is far more widespread - and does more social damage - than substance abuse.)

This research has forced the science community to broaden the definition of addiction to include "behavioral" addictions. Essentially, addiction consists of any sort of compulsive behavior that dominates an individual's life. Typically, an addict will forego sleep, food and drink, and anything else in order to engage in whatever it is he or she craves. The new definition also includes the phenomenon of "tolerance" - eventually, the effects of the behavior or substance does not provide the "high" it once did, so the person is required to engage in more of the behaviour, or take more of the substance in order to achieve the same effect. Finally, there is the "withdrawal" - addicts denied their drugs or opportunities to gamble, play online games, look at porn, etc. will become moody, sullen, and experience physical symptoms such as sweating and even hallucinations.

In any event, it's been discovered that all of these addictions - be they behavioural or chemical - follow the same neural pathways. It's all related to dopamine, says Grer-Sinopoli. Dopamine is the brain chemical that is released as a response to pleasurable stimuli. Her studies showed that the EEG response to given stimuli was virtually identical between drug/alcohol addicts and compulsive gamblers.

Another marker of addiction may involve a gene regulator known as Fos B, which is part of the brain's reward circuit. Fos B is found in the brains of lab rodents that consume drugs or are allowed to engage in sex more often than animals in a control group.

Bottom line: any of us can become addicted to nearly anything. And now, with the the use of computers and the Internet, the problem of compulsive gambling and yes - gaming as well - is likely to become much worse. In fact, addiction to online gaming has already become a major issue in many countries.

There is another school of thought suggesting that addiction may indeed be an imperfect spiritual longing. Mystics of all faiths from Judaisim to traditional Native American religions have long said that contact with the Divine (whatever one considers That to Be) is the the ultimate "high."

Something to think about.

[Via New Scientist] Permalink  |   Email this  |   Linking Blogs   |   Digg It!

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