HOME

Tag: tolerance

  • Physical addiction or psychological addiction – Is there a real difference?

    This is another one of the basic questions I get regarding addiction. It seems that people think about physical addiction and psychological addiction as somehow separate processes. I think this distinction makes no sense. Even if people really meant what they were saying, the brain is undoubtedly part of the body, and therefore, psychological addictions…

  • Addiction-brain effects – Tolerance, sensitization, and withdrawal

    If you’ve been with us for any length of time, you’ve already read about the addiction-brain effects for specific drugs. I think it’s important to understand some of the more general changes that occur in the addicted brain regardless of the specific drugs used. One of the most common effects of long term drug use…

  • Obesity, drug addiction, and dopamine

    Eating junk-food can be addictive, and apparently, it causes brain changes that look eerily similar to drug addiction. That’s the message not only from the rapidly fattening waistlines of Americans everywhere, but also from the Johnson and Kenny labs at the Scripps Institute. Food and drug addiction The idea that obesity is caused by a…

  • Steven Tyler deals with pain killer addiction by checking into rehab

    After the recent death of Michael Jackson, and possibly Brittany Murphy, due to prescription drug overdoses, Steven Tyler, the lead singer of the mega-band Aerosmith, has checked himself into rehab for pain-killer addiction. Many pain killers commonly used are opiates (which are very similar to heroin), and many chronic-pain sufferers resolve to taking such drugs…

  • Addiction brain effects : Opiate addiction – Heroin, oxycontin and more

    Okay, we’ve talked about crystal meth and cocaine and how they affect the brain during drug use. As I mentioned, both cocaine and meth interfere with the way the brain stores and cleans up important neurotransmitters, including, most importantly, Dopamine and Norepinephrine. The class of drugs known as opiates, which includes morphine, heroin, codeine, and…