Does using alcohol, nicotine, or cannabis engender addiction by changing the structure of brains, or does the structure of brains incline some people toward using those substances? In standard brain ...

People with substance use disorder—whether addicted to alcohol, cocaine, heroin, or nicotine—share a strikingly similar ...

Addiction is one of the most intensely studied conditions in modern medicine, yet even with high‑resolution brain scans and genetic tools, scientists still cannot fully explain why some people get ...

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found that deep brain stimulation (DBS) can greatly reduce the compulsion to use heroin in standard rat models of addiction. Rats that were ...

While most prior studies have focused on brain-centric models of reward, some work has shown that gut-vagal signals have an effect on food-driven dopamine activity and eating behaviors. Yet it was ...

North Texas researchers identify gene changes in brain reward circuits that may point to new treatments for those struggling ...

For decades, my colleagues and I advanced the premise that early substance use—nicotine, alcohol, or cannabis (or other addicting drugs)—interferes with critical maturation stages, particularly ...

Remarkable scientific progress over the past five decades has helped us develop knowledge of how drugs of abuse induce pleasure, reinforce use, and lead to the compulsive self-administration we call ...

Researchers at UC San Francisco and Imperial College London have shown that a single dose of psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in magic mushrooms, causes likely anatomical brain changes that ...

Addiction is one of the most common and consequential chronic medical conditions in the United States. Nationwide, more than 46 million people met the criteria for a substance abuse disorder as of ...