steve11694

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Re-Thinking Addiction
Popular Science Blog - Re-Thinking Addiction


Fmri Addicts form thoughts in a fundamentally different way than those without addictions, according to a report published in today's Journal of Neuroscience. The study, led by scientists at the University of North Carolina and the University of California, compared the brain activity of recovering alcoholics and non-addicts. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), they recorded neural activity of both groups while they made a hypothetical financial decision: Less money now or more later? The impulsive "now" option, one demarcated by increased activity in certain brain sites, was chosen by the recovering addicts three times more often than by others. The ones who decided to hold off, however, had more activity in their orbital frontal cortices—the "brakes" area of the brain, which allows us to consider future consequences and weigh them against short-term gain.

The study, the first to identify such differentiation in brain activity, could be the key to discovering viable treatments for addiction.—Abby Seiff

LaTeeDa

Call me a cynic, but I don't need fMRI tests to know that addicts prefer instant gratification to long term stability.

And that last sentence-above-is just another way of asking for more money to throw at the problem. There are plenty of viable treatments for addiction, but none of them work if the addict doesn't want to be "treated."

L

Barbara52

Well, duh! Addicts prefer instant gratification. I could have told them that, anyone who's been involved with an addict knows that.

CatsPajamas

Well duh is right!

CBrown

Duh is right, but even more sobering is the fact that we're a society of people wanting "instant gratification." Is it any wonder addictions of all kinds are skyrocketing? I want instant gratification with my food and money, therefore I'm overweight and in debt!

steve11694

We all know/have learned addicts prefer instant gratification, HOWEVER, what these researchers have done is to be the first to map out the actual areas and associated changes in the brain. The medical implication is to use this information to try to develop a treatment that specifically targets those regions of the brain in an effort to leverage decreasing or turning off or blocking the "instant gratification" regions.

steve11694

Imagine swallowing a pill that gives you the same feeling eating a pint of Haagen Daz does!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but no calories or fat

Barbara52

Not something I would want in my life! Seriously, isn't that what addiction does already to some degree?

Lilyflower

I don't think replacing one drug with another more acceptable drug is the way forward. Pharmaceutical companies will no doubt love the extra revenue! Why don't addicts learn to rely upon their own strength instead of leaning on another source? Isn't that what healthy people do all the time? I think its more a case of re-training the mind.

Lily xxxx

Rella927

Well duh! And IMHO I think that goes for most codies too yes yes?

LaTeeDa

Exactly! But, that takes work and perseverance. Isn't it ironic that we want to cure the tendency for instant gratification with a magic pill????????????????

L

denny57

Well, duh, I know plenty of people who aren't addicts who love instant gratification.

CBrown

Reading all this made me want to indulge my need for instant gratification via the carton of Ben & Jerry's Peach Cobbler in the freezer. D'OH!!!!! My daughter ate it all; it's gone! HAHAHAH!

Lilyflower

Instantly stop my need for things to make me instantly happy!!! That made me laugh LTD!!

geees poncho

addicts have a dissease ( try to controll MEASELS, SMALL POX, AIDS ) with a healthy mind or otherwise!!!

Barbara52

Yes its a disease but one that requires the active choice to continue to pour alcohol down one's throat or to take that drug or consume in someway the substance. There is an element of choice involved.

I have battled using food for comfort all my life. I know I have this disease but I also know its a matter of choice to overeat or eat the wrong foods. And you can't escape the need for food. No one needs drugs or alcohol to survive.

LaTeeDa

If addiction cannot be helped by getting the mind healthy, how come 12-step programs work?

L

denny57

Diarrhea is a condition, not a disease.

geees poncho

The knowing, healthy, mind doesn't need drugs or alcohol to survive,
WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT A KNOWING HEALTHY MINDS.
We are talking about a diseased mind with many issues,
this stuff is science, things to be discovered,
Remember how Columbus was going to fall off the edge of the world if he kept sailing west. 12 step programs work now!!! GOD love em, COULD THERE BE ANOTHER WAY???

Barbara52

Could there be othere ways? Sure. Wills cience bring more information to light on the subject of addiction? I sure hope so!

But that doesn't negate the fact that 12 steps programs work because it is very much possible to change the way one thinks and behaves. Therapy for many mental illnesses involves learning new ways to think and behave with or without drugs.