What is addiction?

A general discussion of what addiction means from the perspective of clinicians and scientists, how it comes about, and what goes on in the brain to result in addiction and withdrawal.  In future episodes, we'll delve into the specific circuitry underlying these processes - as well as novel strategies to develop therapeutics that more specifically target this circuitry, avoiding the ineffectiveness and side-effects of current treatments.

Here are some of the references we used:

1. Wise RA, Koob GF. The development and maintenance of drug addiction. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2014 Jan;39(2):254-62. doi: 10.1038/npp.2013.261. Epub 2013 Oct 11. Review. PubMed PMID: 24121188; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3870778. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=24121188)

2. Goldman D, Oroszi G, Ducci F. The genetics of addictions: uncovering the genes. Nat Rev Genet. 2005 Jul;6(7):521-32. Review. PubMed PMID: 15995696. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=15995696)

Let me know what you think!