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Tag: environment

  • Biology, environment, or psychology? Which is most important in addiction?

    I get asked this question a lot, both by people who are fully committed to the biological (or brain) model of addiction and ones who thinks it’s crap and that it’s all about psychology, experience, and motivation. The thing is that it is absolutely impossible to separate the influence of the brain, environment, and psychology…

  • College drinking and frats – A match made in alcohol heaven?

    contributing author: Gacia Tachejian If you asked college students in America what goes on at a Fraternity or Sorority party they would tell you that drinking alcohol is a major component. The movie Animal House made heavy college drinking a well known fact decades ago, and research backs it up. Studies have consistently shown that…

  • Biology versus Choice: Is a simple explanation of addiction enough?

    At the recent Addictions conference, held in D.C. and sponsored by Elsevier, a well known academic publishing house, I got myself into one of those long debates with a fellow addiction researcher. The question we were debating was whether addiction is primarily biological or if it is mostly a matter of personal choice. We ran…

  • Is anonymity the final shame frontier in addiction?

    I’m a drug addict and a sex addict, and as far as I’m concerned, staying anonymous let’s me remain buried in shame, and a double life, that keeps me always one step ahead of those close to me. Did I say too much? Did I give away my secrets? None of those  questions matter when…