New work on the brain and addiction

[摘要] The brain has become an important part of howwe understand ourselves as human beings.Almost everything is nowadays explained byreferences to the mechanisms of the brain: consumption behaviour, political activity, careerchoice and marital status. In fact, it is difficultto come up with a single social phenomenonthat has not yet been connected to the brain. Itis a central and exciting part of the human biopsychosocial essence. This also applies toaddiction. In the field of addiction studies, theneurosciences have been provided enormousspace in the form of expectations and financialgrants. According to the so-called braindisease model of addiction (BDMA), addictionis a chronic brain disease and it is thought that inthe future it will be possible to medicate ormanipulate the disease with various concretetools. The evidence seems to be unequivocal:imaging of brains has shown how “kicks” ofdopamine and serotonin light up in peoplewho are addicted to alcohol or gambling evenwhen only thinking about drinking or playing,not even engaging in the behaviour.

[学科分类] 微生物学和免疫学