How did I miss this thread?!
Aaaaah EndGame…, don’t be jaded
I do research on addiction and related neuropsychiatric conditions like anxiety and depression. I don’t work on alcohol specifically (more other drugs), but like most people on this board know without having to look at science, addiction to alcohol, other licit or illicit substances, gambling, sex, eating, etc etc have lots of similarities. At the same time, in terms of biological mechanisms there are also many individual differences between person and person, which is a major factor in why there is no one single cause, solution, treatment intervention, ore recovery method that applies to and can work for everyone. It is now known to be a complex disease where individual genetic factors, environment, development, life experience, and many other components interact and play a role together. It is complex and quite complicated, but far from a mess - these days there is enough knowledge and evidence revealing quite distinct biological phenomena underlying what we call “addiction” as an umbrella term. If someone is interested in doing research on addiction, there are many different areas and components to explore – this is basically what I do in the form of collaborations between scientists with a variety of backgrounds and expertise such as molecular neurobiology, neurophysiology, behavioral science (~experimental psychology), genetics, statistics, and others. It is teamwork. People also use different kinds of imaging technologies to study the addicted brain (and normal brain as well of course).
I think NOW is a very good time to be in addiction research since it’s no longer such a mystery but there is plenty of accumulated knowledge and many opening doors, new avenues. It’s all very dynamic and exciting, in my opinion. My personal story about getting into this field wasn’t so much driven by the motivation to find the holy grail and cure myself, and I do not recommend this to anyone – completely agree with EndGame’s note regarding this. It did not make me quit my own addiction either, although I personally did and do find the knowledge very useful and helpful especially now working on my own recovery. And I love to do the research. I find the brain and what drives our behaviors in terms of biological mechanisms really fascinating.
Regarding information sources, there are tons. I would say in the United States the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is a rich source:
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
I posted other links before on different threads, here is one again:
The Brain—The Essence of Drug Addiction
Is anyone is interested in specific areas or have, let me know and I can try to recommend relevant specific sources.