INDRODUCTTION
Our discussion begins with a fundamental source of human unrest: the relentless urge to feel
wonderful. The desire to have more of everything, to “experience only peaks,” is basic to the
human psyche. Craving for
ecstasy —the root cause of
compulsive pleasure seeking—
springs from one’s early
encounters with pleasurable
activities…toddler discovers
that spinning oneself into a
dizzy heap can ramp up feelings
of intoxication and bliss. The
same applies to the adolesent
who takes drug knowing that it
can produce altered state. IT’S THE SENSATION OF ALTERED MOOD, THE EFFECT IT
PRODUCES— not the substance itself—that we crave.
Addiction Syndrome Disorders
It is common to describe specific drugs, activities, or objects as addictive (e.g., alcohol,
gambling, and the Internet). Today, a commonalities approach to addictive disorders, the
signature of our earlier work is supported by research from both biological and social sciences.
Longitudinal twin studies show a common externalizing factor underlying symptoms of
impulsivity, sociability, and rebelliousness. The disruptive or externalizing disorders consist of
ADHD disorder, conduct disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder. When an identical twin is
affected with an externalizing disorder, the other twin has a very high probability of manifesting
a disorder from the same category – all from alcohol dependence to adult antisocial behavior.
There seems to be a relationship between a particular pattern of brain wave activity - lower
amplitude P300 brain waves.
personality and environmental risk factors are common in regard to chemical and
behavioral expressions of addiction (psychosocial perspective). Impulsivity, poor parental
1
, supervision, and delinquency, poverty, geography, and peer groups, can influence the onset and
course of both drug use and other risk-taking activities, such as gambling.
Other similarities across the range of hedonic (relating to pleasant or unpleasant sensations)
dependencies (e.g., gambling, sex, eating, drugs, and alcohol) include:
Common milestones in the progression of behavioral dysfunction (e.g., relationship,
work, and economic problems);
Dopamine malfunction, which plays a primary role in both drug and behavioral
addictions;
Parallel neurobiological consequences across addictive behaviors (e.g., neuroadaptation
resulting in tolerance and withdrawal);
No specificity of object choice (i.e., it is common for people who are recovering from
one pattern of addiction to “hop” to another)
Comparable patterns of emotional distress.
Tese explicit commonalities share a cluster of signs and symptoms related to a common
underlying condition.
Addiction of all kinds is based on a “pathological usurpation” of the executive functions of the
brain which includes motivation, memory, and decision making. “The key role in the
development of these changes belongs to the mesocortical-limbic dopaminergic system. Types of
addictive behavior based on agents other than psychoactive substances are linked with similar
changes in the nervous system.
Evolutionary mismatch theories posit that potentially addictive behaviors were
genetically enhanced during our hunter-gatherer ancestry – salt, sugar and fat has been increased
today.
Extent of the Problem(s)
The phenomenon of alcohol or drug dependencies so pervasive that addiction impacts one in
every four families.
2
Our discussion begins with a fundamental source of human unrest: the relentless urge to feel
wonderful. The desire to have more of everything, to “experience only peaks,” is basic to the
human psyche. Craving for
ecstasy —the root cause of
compulsive pleasure seeking—
springs from one’s early
encounters with pleasurable
activities…toddler discovers
that spinning oneself into a
dizzy heap can ramp up feelings
of intoxication and bliss. The
same applies to the adolesent
who takes drug knowing that it
can produce altered state. IT’S THE SENSATION OF ALTERED MOOD, THE EFFECT IT
PRODUCES— not the substance itself—that we crave.
Addiction Syndrome Disorders
It is common to describe specific drugs, activities, or objects as addictive (e.g., alcohol,
gambling, and the Internet). Today, a commonalities approach to addictive disorders, the
signature of our earlier work is supported by research from both biological and social sciences.
Longitudinal twin studies show a common externalizing factor underlying symptoms of
impulsivity, sociability, and rebelliousness. The disruptive or externalizing disorders consist of
ADHD disorder, conduct disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder. When an identical twin is
affected with an externalizing disorder, the other twin has a very high probability of manifesting
a disorder from the same category – all from alcohol dependence to adult antisocial behavior.
There seems to be a relationship between a particular pattern of brain wave activity - lower
amplitude P300 brain waves.
personality and environmental risk factors are common in regard to chemical and
behavioral expressions of addiction (psychosocial perspective). Impulsivity, poor parental
1
, supervision, and delinquency, poverty, geography, and peer groups, can influence the onset and
course of both drug use and other risk-taking activities, such as gambling.
Other similarities across the range of hedonic (relating to pleasant or unpleasant sensations)
dependencies (e.g., gambling, sex, eating, drugs, and alcohol) include:
Common milestones in the progression of behavioral dysfunction (e.g., relationship,
work, and economic problems);
Dopamine malfunction, which plays a primary role in both drug and behavioral
addictions;
Parallel neurobiological consequences across addictive behaviors (e.g., neuroadaptation
resulting in tolerance and withdrawal);
No specificity of object choice (i.e., it is common for people who are recovering from
one pattern of addiction to “hop” to another)
Comparable patterns of emotional distress.
Tese explicit commonalities share a cluster of signs and symptoms related to a common
underlying condition.
Addiction of all kinds is based on a “pathological usurpation” of the executive functions of the
brain which includes motivation, memory, and decision making. “The key role in the
development of these changes belongs to the mesocortical-limbic dopaminergic system. Types of
addictive behavior based on agents other than psychoactive substances are linked with similar
changes in the nervous system.
Evolutionary mismatch theories posit that potentially addictive behaviors were
genetically enhanced during our hunter-gatherer ancestry – salt, sugar and fat has been increased
today.
Extent of the Problem(s)
The phenomenon of alcohol or drug dependencies so pervasive that addiction impacts one in
every four families.
2
