How Addiction Hijacks Our Reward System
The Dana Foundation | April 01, 2005
By Cynthia M. Kuhn, and Wilkie A. Wilson
People have been engaging in addictive behaviors for centuries, but only very recently, by using the powerful tools of brain imaging, genetics, and genomics, have scientists begun to understand in detail how the brain becomes addicted. Neuropharmacologists Wilkie A. Wilson, Ph.D., and Cynthia M. Kuhn, Ph.D., explain, for example, that you cannot conclude you are addicted to something because you experience withdrawal symptoms. And calling our love of chocolate or football an “addiction” not only trivializes the devastation wrought by addiction, but misses the point that addiction involves a hijacking of the brain’s circuitry, a reprogramming of the reward system, and lasting, sometimes permanent, brain changes. Any effective treatment must address both addiction’s reorganization of the brain and the power of the addict’s memories.
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