Drug Abuse

OBJECTIVE: A primary behavioral pathology in drug addiction is the overpowering motivational strength and decreased ability to control the desire to obtain drugs. In this review the authors explore how advances in neurobiology are approaching an…

Drug addiction is a chronically relapsing disorder that has been characterized by (1) compulsion to seek and take the drug, (2) loss of control in limiting intake, and (3) emergence of a negative emotional state (eg, dysphoria, anxiety,…

We hypothesize that drug addiction can be viewed as the endpoint of a series of transitions from initial voluntary drug use through the loss of control over this behaviour, such that it becomes habitual and ultimately compulsive. We describe…

To identify possible reasons for the disappointingly negative results of methodologically rigorous controlled trials of psychological treatments in the addictions field.

The understanding of decision-making systems has come together in recent years to form a unified theory of decision-making in the mammalian brain as arising from multiple, interacting systems (a planning system, a habit system, and a…

Understanding the changes in the brain which occur in the transition from normal to addictive behavior has major implications in public health. Here we postulate that while reward circuits (nucleus accumbens, amygdala), which have been central to…

A meta-analysis was conducted on controlled clinical trials investigating adaptations of motivational interviewing (AMIs), a promising approach to treating problem behaviors. AMIs were equivalent to other active treatments and yielded moderate…

OBJECTIVE: Studies of the neurobiological processes underlying drug addiction primarily have focused on limbic subcortical structures. Here the authors evaluated the role of frontal cortical structures in drug addiction. METHOD: An integrated model…

In standard drug self-administration settings, animals have no choice than drug use. As a result, serious doubt exists about the interpretation of drug use in experimental animals. Is it symptomatic of an underlying addiction state or merely an…

This report of the proceedings of a symposium presented at the 2004 Research Society on Alcoholism Meeting provides evidence linking stress during sobriety to craving that increases the risk for relapse. The initial presentation by Rajita Sinha…

Drug abuse and dependence define behavioral states involving increased allocation of behavior towards drug seeking and taking at the expense of more appropriate behavioral patterns. As such, addiction can be viewed as increased control of behavior…

This paper reviews recent developments in the neurocircuitry and neurobiology of addiction from a perspective of allostasis. A model is proposed for brain changes that occur during the development of addiction that explain the persistent…

Behavioral economics examines conditions that influence the consumption of commodities and provides several concepts that may be instrumental in understanding drug dependence. One such concept of significance is that of how delayed reinforcers are…

There is a longstanding association between substance-use disorders (SUDs) and the psychological construct of impulsivity. In the first section of this review, personality and neurocognitive data pertaining to impulsivity will be summarised in…

RATIONALE: The notion that stress leads to drug abuse in vulnerable individuals and relapse in addicts is not new. Most major theories of addiction postulate that stress plays an important role in increasing drug use and relapse. Several animal…

We examine and refine the Fagerström Tolerance Questionnaire (FTQ: Fagerström, 1978). The relation between each FTQ item and biochemical measures of heaviness of smoking was examined in 254 smokers. We found that the nicotine rating item and the…

AIMS: Addiction has been conceptualized as a shift from controlled experimentation to uncontrolled, compulsive patterns of use. Current neurobiological models of addiction emphasize changes within the brain's reward system, such that drugs of abuse…

Development of pharmacotherapy to reduce relapse rates is one of the biggest challenges in drug addiction research. The enduring nature of relapse suggests that it is maintained by long-lasting molecular and cellular adaptations in the neuronal…

Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) are a devastating public health problem. The construct of impulsivity is biologically based and heritable, and its various dimensions are relevant for understanding alcohol use. The goal of the current manuscript is to…

Craving plays an important role in the pathogenesis of alcohol dependence and relapse. In this review we have tried to analyse how many contrasting theories have been formulated in order to clarify the concept of craving. Many complex…