The brain disease model of addiction holds that SUDs are chronic, relapsing brain diseases and that relapses are symptoms, and part of the expected course, of the disease (Morse, 2017). As with other ...

For years, addiction was seen as a matter of personal failure—a bad habit or a lack of discipline. People believed those who struggled with substance abuse could stop if they simply wanted to. But ...

Addiction is one of the most intensely studied conditions in modern medicine, yet even with high‑resolution brain scans and genetic tools, scientists still cannot fully explain why some people get ...

The conversation about addiction within Black families requires a fundamental shift toward understanding it as a medical condition rather than a moral failing. This perspective change proves crucial ...

Most medical experts say that addiction is a disease—whether that addiction is to drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes. That ever-expanding list is one reason why neuroscientist Marc Lewis takes issue with ...

Remarkable scientific progress over the past five decades has helped us develop knowledge of how drugs of abuse induce pleasure, reinforce use, and lead to the compulsive self-administration we call ...

One of the dominant ways of thinking about addiction is as a disease. While there is evidence for this approach, it often leads to a dismissal of addiction’s social causes, rooted in alienation and ...

This short chapter summarizes some of the key discussions concerning how drug abuse is viewed in the society and the implications of those views. These discussions occurred throughout the committee's ...