Brain differences in children and teens who experiment with drugs early show up before they take their first puff or sip ...

Revenge is more than an emotion—it’s an addictive behavior. We get hyped about an epic revenge story to watch on the big ...

Founders' Day recently celebrated the 90th anniversary of Alcoholics Anonymous. It incorporates an often untapped aspect of ...

Researchers argue that "we may need to reevaluate the causal assumptions that underlie brain disease models of addiction." ...

In standard brain disease models of addiction, the neurotoxic effects of abused psychoactive substances are thought to cause brain changes that spur compulsive cravings for drink, smokes, or dope.

Addiction isn’t a brain disease – but substance use is rarely a free choice either.

Addiction involves complex changes to brain structure and function that persist long after substance use stops. These alterations affect critical regions governing judgment, decision-making ...

Of course, “the brain changes with addiction,” he writes. “But the way it changes has to do with learning and development — not disease.” ...

A post hoc analysis further challenges current models of addiction. When researchers looked only at the 1203 youth who initiated substance use after the baseline neuroimaging session, they found ...

To the public, policymakers and even health care workers, he wrote, “Addiction as a chronic, relapsing disease of the brain is a totally new concept.” But he did not overlook contributing factors.

Wiers points out that the view of addiction as a chronic brain disease, in which relapse is the norm, is heavily based on studies of patients who, for the most part, did relapse after treatment ...