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| Archive : Fall
2006 |
BEEN DOWN SO LONG IT LOOKS LIKE UP TO ME:
First dopamine whisks you into euphoria // Then compulsion displaces pleasure // Eventually, just the sight of a $20 bill makes your brain scream cocaine // Now, is there any way to replace the brain tissue
that got eaten away?
The Addicted Brain [page 4]
 By Anita Slomski |
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To be ultimately effective, addiction treatment must prevent relapse, so identifying those at high risk for relapse is vital, says Martin P. Paulus, associate chief of psychiatry at the San Diego Veterans Administration Hospital and professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Diego. He uses brain images of methamphetamine abusers shortly after they have stopped using the drug to predict those likely to fall off the wagon. “If we have an objective measure of brain function that indicates probability of relapse,” says Paulus, “then we can appropriate resources to those who most need them.” In Paulus’s study, slightly lower levels of activity in the prefrontal cortex during decision-making tasks predicted with considerable accuracy those addicts who would relapse during the first two years after treatment.
Whether the brains of addicts can ever return to normal is an open question. “It seems to be highly variable,” says Volkow of NIDA, who has been following methamphetamine and cocaine addicts after sobriety. “Some brains recover, while others don’t. It probably depends on how long someone has been taking the drug, how frequently and the age at which he or she began. The earlier you start, the greater the likelihood the brain changes will be longer lasting.”
 Dossier
1.“Drug Addiction: The Neurobiology of Behaviour Gone Awry,” by Nora D. Volkow and Ting-Kai Li, Nature Reviews/Neuroscience, December 2004. Excellent overview of how addiction occurs, its neurobiology, current and potential pharmacological and cognitive-behavioral interventions, and society’s response to drug abuse.
2.“The Addicted Brain: Overview/The Evolution of Addiction,” by Eric J. Nestler and Robert C. Malenka, Scientific American, Feb. 9, 2004. Pioneering investigators of the molecular basis of drug addiction clearly describe the changes in the brain’s chemistry and architecture as an individual progresses from drug experimentation to intractable addiction.
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Photographs by James Worrell |
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