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Tag: neurotransmitter

  • Cravings – The all consuming experience of wanting something

    In my studies of addiction, the concept of cravings comes up often. Researchers talk of “wanting” versus “liking” of drugs and of the idea that cravings are a programmed response to environmental signals that have been connected to drug use through experience. What are cravings? I agree with these descriptions and the idea that cravings…

  • Drug use memories and relapse: Can medication provide addiction help?

    About a year ago, while sitting in a lecture on learning and memory, the idea that certain drugs can affect the emotional responses to memory long after the memory itself has been formed came up. As someone interested in addiction research, the implication for treatment immediately came up in my head: Could we reduce the…

  • The brain addiction connection : Crystal meth, and our friend dopamine

    We’ve talked about the general way in which neurons in the brain communicate with one another and then reviewed the ways in which cocaine messes some of the basic processes that the brain depends on. It’s time to move on to another drug, and since the brain-addiction connection is similar for meth and cocaine, it…