The role of interoception and its neural basis with relevance to drug addiction is reviewed. Interoception consists of the receiving, processing, and integrating body-relevant signals with external stimuli to affect ongoing motivated behavior. The insular cortex is the central nervous system hub to process and integrate these signals. Interoception is an important component of several addiction...

Drug addiction is clinically defined in behavioral terms. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV of the American Psychiatric Association defines “substance dependence” as a maladaptive pattern of substance use, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, as manifested by three or more by the following criteria: tolerance, withdrawal, excessive use, inability to cut down, a great...

This study aimed to explore both the direct and indirect relationships between depression, loneliness, low self-control, and Internet addiction in a sample of Turkish youth, based on a cognitive-behavioral model of generalized problematic Internet use. Data for the present study were collected from 648 undergraduate students with a mean age of 22.46 years (SD = 2.45). Participants completed sca...

Cannabinoid receptors (CBRs) are involved in neuropsychiatric disturbances including drug addiction. Studies show that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of CNR1 and FAAH may contribute to drug addiction and other neuropsychiatric disorders. However, cannabinoid type-2 receptors (CB2Rs) in the CNS and their role in drug addiction and neuropsychiatric disorders have been much less well chara...

Abstract Nyaope is a potent drug that currently challenging South Africa; its ramifications have destroyed the country’s youth. The study described in this paper sought to explore dangers associated with consumption of Butterworth, Africa. This adopted an explorative and descriptive qualitative approach involved facilitation focus group discussions one-on-one interviews twenty-six participants....

Addiction to online role-playing games is one of the most discussed aspects of recent cyberpsychology, mainly for its potentially negative impact on the social lives of young people. In our study, we focus on some aspects of youth and adolescent addiction to MMORPGs. We investigated connections between players and their game characters and examined if, and in what ways, player relationship to t...

In this paper, I reflect on two of my intertwined research interests. The first is professional engagement with researching drug use and abuse in Ireland, especially heroin addiction, applied ethnographic projects, generally answering a specific set questions how services for ‘drug addiction’ work. My second interest the historical construction ‘addiction’ discursive intersections that produce ...

Drug addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder for which research has been dedicated to understand the various factors that contribute to development, loss of control, and persistence of compulsive addictive behaviors. In this review, we provide a broad overview of various theories of addiction, drugs of abuse, and the neurobiology involved across the addiction cycle. Specific focus is devoted ...

146 T here is an emerging consensus that drug addiction is a form of maladaptive learning. Drugs of abuse usurp the neuronal circuitry involved in motivation and reward, leading to aberrant engagement of learning processes. As a result, drug-associated cues can trigger craving and compulsive drug-seeking behavior, and voluntary control over drug use is lost. Abused drugs can also modulate long-...