How addiction studies connect brain change and lived experience

Addiction studies examines addiction, a persistent, intense urge to use a drug or engage in a behavior that brings immediate psychological reward despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. The lessons help readers understand addiction as both brain change and lived experience. They consider how addiction affects behavior, relates to life experience, and is understood through treatment and personal perspectives.

2 articles, 1 video, 1 book · about 1 hr 7 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   

   addiction studies · Wikipedia · 51 min read

   Addiction involves overactive brain stress systems, muted ordinary pleasures, and reduced prefrontal cortex control that leaves craving poorly restrained, linking brain processes to the recurring cycle of use for relief. Addiction studies distinguish how diagnostic manuals classify behavioral addictions: the DSM-5-TR classifies gambling disorder as a clinical disorder and lists internet gaming disorder for further study, while the ICD-11 classifies both gambling disorder and gaming disorder as disorders due to addictive behaviors. For opioid use disorder, methadone or buprenorphine maintenance treatment is common. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 15 trials and 36 cohort studies found that time receiving this treatment was associated with lower all-cause and overdose mortality, with the risk of death around six times higher in the four weeks after treatment stopped.

2. Read
   

   She Studies How Addiction Hijacks Learning in the Brain | Quanta Magazine · Quanta Magazine · 10 min read

   In addiction, long-term drug use depletes dopamine, making it harder for the brain to learn anything new. In addiction studies, the researcher says she has not personally experienced substance use disorder, making it hard for her to understand its impact on an individual's day-to-day life. She says finding a cure is difficult because addiction is not one uniform disease.

3. Watch
   

   What causes addiction, and why is it so hard to treat? - Judy Grisel · YouTube · 6 min watch

   Addictive drugs affect the body in ways that make substance addiction difficult to treat. Judy Grisel examines both.

4. Book
   

   The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath · Bookshop.org

   The Recovering by Leslie Jamison blends memoir, cultural history, literary criticism, and journalistic reportage to analyze how stories convey the addiction experience, drawing on the lives of artists whose achievements were shaped by addiction.

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