Addiction Largely Determined By Our Genes - Annual Meeting Of The Royal College Of Psychiatrists
Main Category: Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal DrugsAlso Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 05 Jul 2008 - 0:00 PDT
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The mystery of why one person becomes hooked on alcohol, heroin, sex or gambling, and another remains free of addiction, lies deep in the brain and is largely determined by our genes.
Professor Wim van den Brink, from the Academic Medical Centre at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and a leading expert in the field of addiction, told the Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists today (Friday 4 July) that addicts have fewer dopamine or pleasure receptors in the brain and consequently seek out more and more stimulation.
"Addicts find it difficult to receive pleasure," said Prof van den Brink. "They are not likely to enjoy most of the ordinary things most of us enjoy, experiences such as a day at the beach or night at a club. They are looking for more and more stimulus."
However, Professor van den Brink stated that a person's genetic vulnerability to addiction does not automatically translated into real alcohol and drug disease - there are also environmental influences.
He said: "You might start off smoking or taking cocaine, and that first introduction is very much determined by your environment. But to stick with it and become dependent on it is genetically determined."
Ironically, if someone continues to take their substance of choice, the number of dopamine receptors drop even more. "In this way addicts become even more interested in drugs and drug-using friends," said Prof van den Brink.
The emotional memory of the 'wonderful experience and the drive to repeat it leads to craving and relapse, said Prof van den Brink. Moreover, addicts fail to understand, or register, the conflict between the short-term pleasure the substance gives them and the damage long-term addiction can do.
Reference
The Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Imperial College, London, 1 - 4 July 2008
The Royal College of Psychiatrists
www.rcpsych.ac.uk
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Most Advanced Imaging Documented This Years Ago
posted by Cara H Barber on 5 Jul 2008 at 10:49 pmBrain SPECT Imaging, the most advanced imaging technology, provided medical researchers in the field of Addiction Medicine with the documented medical evidence via brain scans proving that addiction was a disease many years ago. Brain SPECT Imaging makes CT Scans and MRI's look archaic, as the images produced by SPECT imaging is much more precise and detailed, which further serves to limit subjectivity when interpreting such images. Medical researchers collected such brain images of over 40,000 test subjects who represented a microcosm of our society -- meaning that some of the test subjects were addicted, some not, some diagnosed with mental disorders, others not, etc. And what they discovered is that they could easily determine which currently unaddicted brains were very susceptible to addiction and, as a result, would likely end up struggling with some type of addiction in their lifetime.
The determining factors were the amount of D2 receptor cells found in the brain or, in essence, the brain's capacity to regulate appropriate levels of dopamine in the brain. Those susceptible to addiction did not have as many D2 receptor cells as “normal” test subjects and, as a result, lacked the ability to regulate appropriate levels of dopamine within the brain. This handicap of the test subject’s brain was completely unbeknownst to the test subject and, surprisingly, only some of these test subjects had been previously diagnosed with a mental disorder like depression or anxiety.
These findings via Brain SPECT Imaging have dramatically impacted the field of Addiction Medicine and have resulted in more compassionate treatment options for those suffering with addiction. However, these findings have not been widely distributed amongst the media and, as a result, have not served to instigate a change in society's perception of addiction. Still, to this day, many people believe that "addicts" are lazy and lack the willpower to simply stop taking their drug of choice. And, even worse, there are "treatment centers" whose "treatment" is founded in the belief that the more a person suffers during the excruciatingly painful physical and emotionally unraveling mental withdrawals that set in as soon as the substance is removed -- the better off they will be!
Unfortunately, only 10% of the hundreds of thousands of people struggling with an addiction will ever get help and/or find recovery. Can you imagine if only 10% of the people struggling with Cancer or Diabetes ever sought help or received treatment?? Well, that's what it is like for a person struggling with addiction! Below are some of the reasons people suffering from this disease do not seek treatment and suffer in silence:
1. The inevitable guilt and shame endured following admittance
2. Fear of the cruel and painful "treatment" they would be subjected to (only 60% of the 10% that ever do enter into treatment actually complete it because of how painful and humiliating treatment can be)
3. the terribly unconvincing success rates of treatment (examples: AA or 12 Step Based Treatment Options - 12% - 20% long term sobriety success rate, Betty Ford, Hazelton and the like who provide extended and incredibly more expensive treatment options pride themselves on their 20% - 40% long term sobriety success rates)
4. Even though the treatment obviously fails the patients, the patients themselves are blamed or identified as the reason the treatment failed
Now,given that information . . . imagine that you were terribly injured in an accident and the injury was so painful that in order to keep your blood pressure down and your body functioning more normally, you had to begin pain management. While simply doing the best that you could to live and function, you followed your doctor's orders and took the medications you were prescribed, as they were prescribed. Yet, after 6 months of active rehabilitation, your recovery was progressing and your doctors determined that the pain medication was no longer necessary. Not expecting any ill effects from following your doctors orders and stopping the pain medication, you do so eagerly. Yet, only 24 hours later you find yourself violently ill, terribly anxious, emotional and completely unable to care for yourself. You manage to return to your doctor and you are diagnosed in acute withdrawal as the result of a developed dependency on pain medication or, in other words, an addiction to pain medication! How would you feel about your treatment options and how would you feel about sharing your diagnosis with your friends, family, employer, co-workers, etc.?
Yes, that's right, most of the people today struggling with an addiction to pain medications never took the drug recreationally. For some, following their physician’s diagnoses, they find out for the first time that they do not have the medical insurance coverage or financial assets to even cover the cost of treatment for addiction – even the bad treatment centers are very expensive. And, even further, they are unable to take another 30 – 90 days off from work or away from their responsibilities that is necessary to begin treatment for addiction. The majority must return to work immediately because they have absolutely no more sick days or unpaid leave as a result of their injury, illness or rehabilitation. So, what would you do?
Still, those few individuals that have both the time and the money that enter into treatment have little success, just as the statistics document. As previously stated, the treatment options available are of little value and, instead of accepting that their treatment just does not work, they choose to blame their patients and say that their treatment would have worked if the patient had done it right. Crazy! Yet, the reality is that most treatments available today fail to meet the needs of their patients and because “addicts” have been demonized by society for so long, such treatment centers can easily get away with blaming the patients for the resulting failures. Unfortunately, for the patient, their struggle with addiction has further imbalanced their brain chemistry causing them to experience even less comfort, stability, fulfillment, etc., which weakens their defenses to the call of the drug or the cravings. And, on average, it can take the human brain more than 2 years to restore itself back to normal brain activity and the biochemical balance achieved prior to the onset of addiction (which you may recall, was already susceptible to addiction). So, even after 2 years of suffering through a depressing and physically challenging recovery, they are still left incredibly more susceptible to addiction than a person who, from the very beginning, had normal levels of D2 receptor cells.
Am I the only person that believes more people should know about this reality? Am I the only person that believes people suffering from addiction have the right to appropriate, effective and compassionate treatment? If you feel otherwise, just imagine for a minute that the tables were turned and you were born with fewer D2 Receptor Cells and unbeknownst to you, while enjoying good times with friends and drinking in college, you suddenly realized that you were dependent on alcohol and without it you began withdrawing. And, keep in mind, the only variable changed was your genetic predetermination for D2 Receptor Cells – nothing else. You drank no more, no less -- yet, because of your biochemical make up, those exposures to alcohol caused you to develop a dependency and, ultimately, become addicted. You became the alcoholic.
Wouldn’t you think this medical finding newsworthy? Wouldn’t you advocate for more compassionate and medically appropriate treatment options? Wouldn’t you advocate for better insurance coverage? Wouldn’t you join the campaign to reduce the stigma of addiction?
during the course of your recovery how would you feel about seeking treatment for a disease
deters them from ever seeking treatment. Obviously, the deterent for seeking help and/or treatment is the result of the horrible social stigma associated with addiction.
because of the terrible stigma associated with this disease. associated with the social stigma of addiction. found is that the human brain of an individual could be assessed to determine their susceptibility to addiction. In other words, medical researchers were able to accurately pick which "normal' test subjects had a high probability of ending up addicted to a substance (drugs/alcohol), an activity (gambling, sex) or otherwise with amazing accuracy.
Lifelong user with 30 years in Med Assisted TX
posted by Chris on 2 Mar 2011 at 2:01 pmMy father was a hard-drinking but very successful man both as a human and in business. My first drinking involved projectile vomiting yet I was back at the first opportunity. By the late 1960s I was beginning the lifelong battle vs opioid addiction that I carry on to this day. When,in the 1970s,receptors were proposed I knew to my very heart that there was truth there. My family responded that it was "just a theory". When the theory was born out by imaging as it developed, those far less seriously addicted than I were in 12-step programs and full of the righteous certitude that it would work for me too, something for which I wished with all my heart. It did not and I was forced in seeking medically assisted (methadone) treatment to leave behind my dream home, great job and wonderful marriage so I could make the geographic move as the closest program was 200 miles away. Once the treatment had allowed me to calm my behavior enough I returned to school where I took three years of bio-chem, molecular bio and molecular genetics. At that time I was forced by knowledge to accept that which should have been obvious: I would be in treatment for life. Finally though I was able to accept that fact with a happy equanimity having learned about receptor proliferation replacement and reduction. If more addiction professionals and paraprofessionals understood the physical realities surrounding the ailment there would be much more treatment success and many fewer people in the jails sick with or dying of withdrawal. Thank you for the article.
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