Neurobiology of Addiction Resources and Links

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Neurobiology of Addiction Resources and Links

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  1. Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction – Provides scientific information about the disease of drug addiction, including the many harmful consequences of drug abuse and the basic approaches that have been developed to prevent and treat the disease.

View this publication online at www.drugabuse.gov

Order this publication from NIDA DrugPubs

NIDA. 2020, July 13. Drug Misuse and Addiction. Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/drug-misuse-addiction on 2021, March 29

2. Inside the Addicted Human Brain, a presentation by Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Volkow delivered the presentation at the USA Science & Engineering Festival on March 26, 2020.

3. In the book Intoxication: The Universal Drive for Mind-Altering Substances, R.K. Siegel relates the results of 20 years of scientific and cultural research into the quest by animals for mind-altering substances (Siegel, R. K. (2005). The author declares that “We’re neither the first nor the most experienced species to develop a passion for drugs, yet, in mimicking the behavior of other animals through the millennia, we have become the most eager and reckless explorers of intoxication.” (Siegel, R. K., 2005, p. 10). From insects to rodents to primates and all species in between, “Seeking intoxication is the fourth drive” after hunger, thirst, and sex (Siegel, R. K., 2005, p. 10). The basis of this is that both animals and humans do things that give them pleasure. This is the body’s way of rewarding us for doing things that are good for us, such as eating, exercising, and sex. Drugs disrupt this natural system of positively reinforcing activities that are good for us. 

Siegel, R. K. (2005). Intoxication: The universal drive for mindaltering substances. Rochester, Vt: Park Street Press.