Learn how opioid receptors regulate pain signals, how the body releases natural painkillers called endorphins, and how prescription opioid analgesics can lead to dependency and a cycle of addiction.

From our free online course, “The Opioid Crisis in America”:
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CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta says the brain is “rewired” when someone becomes addicted.

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For more information on addiction services at #YaleMedicine, visit: https://www.yalemedicine.org/departments/program-in-addiction-medicine.

Written and produced by Yale Neuroscience PhD student Clara Liao.

Addiction is now understood to be a brain disease. Whether it’s alcohol, prescription pain pills, nicotine, gambling, or something else, overcoming an addiction isn’t as simple as just stopping or exercising greater control over impulses. That’s because addiction develops when the pleasure circuits in the brain get overwhelmed, in a way that can become chronic and sometimes even permanent. This is what’s at play when you hear about reward “systems” or “pathways” and the role of dopamine when it comes to addiction. But what does any of that really mean? One of the most primitive parts of the brain, the reward system, developed as a way to reinforce behaviors we need to survive—such as eating. When we eat foods, the reward pathways activate a chemical called dopamine, which, in turn, releases a jolt of satisfaction. This encourages you to eat again in the future. When a person develops an addiction to a substance, it’s because the brain has started to change. This happens because addictive substances trigger an outsized response when they reach the brain. Instead of a simple, pleasurable surge of dopamine, many drugs of abuse—such as opioids, cocaine, or nicotine—cause dopamine to flood the reward pathway, 10 times more than a natural reward. The brain remembers this surge and associates it with the addictive substance. However, with chronic use of the substance, over time the brain’s circuits adapt and become less sensitive to dopamine. Achieving that pleasurable sensation becomes increasingly important, but at the same time, you build tolerance and need more and more of that substance to generate the level of high you crave. Addiction can also cause problems with focus, memory, and learning, not to mention decision-making and judgement. Seeking drugs, therefore, is driven by habit—and not conscious, rational decisions. Unfortunately, the belief that people with addictions are simply making bad choices pervades. Furthermore, the use of stigmatizing language, such as “junkie” and “addict” and getting “clean,” often creates barriers when it comes to accessing treatment. There’s also stigma that surrounds treatment methods, creating additional challenges. Though treatment modalities differ based on an individual’s history and the particular addiction he or she has developed, medications can make all the difference. “A lot of people think that the goal of treatment for opioid use disorder, for example, is not taking any medication at all,” says David A. Fiellin, MD, a Yale Medicine primary care and addiction medicine specialist. “Research shows that medication-based treatments are the most effective treatment. Opioid use disorder is a medical condition just like depression, diabetes or hypertension, and as with those conditions, it is most effectively treated with a combination of medication and counseling.”
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Addiction is a complex disorder that can be defined as a “loss of control over a reward-seeking behaviour” (Robert West, 2006). According to Kolb and Volkow (2010;2016), the cycle of addiction involves three stages, each of which implicate distinct neurobiological circuits: 1) Binge-intoxication; 2) Negative Affect and Withdrawal; 3) Preoccupation and Craving. This brief animation will explain these stages, along with the key neural structures that are impacted (and altered) by chronic drug use.

This video is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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Visit Carleton’s Neuroscience Department at https://carleton.ca/neuroscience/ and check out the podcast at http://mindingthebrainpodcast.com
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What causes addiction? Is it something in our brain, our environment or our genetics? Learn about the science of addiction and the brain
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Farm-to-fork meals reinvent hospital food: https://ucdavis.health/f2f

Dr. Liz Applegate’s presentation discusses specific foods and dietary supplements that may enhance brain health and transform diet to one that supports healthy aging and memory performance. Dr. Applegate is Director of Sports Nutrition and a Distinguished Lecturer at the University of California, Davis. Her educational focus is eating for optimal health and performance. She writes a column for Runner’s World, appears on national TV & radio and speaks to people of all ages about practical and science based approaches to optimizing oneself through diet.

This lecture is part of UC Davis Health System’s Alzheimer’s Disease Center 2016 Community Lecture Series sponsored by Sunrise Senior Living and Aegis Living. It was delivered live at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California on November 29, 2016.

Good Food is Good Medicine blog: https://health.ucdavis.edu/good-food/
Smart snacking during coronavirus quarantine – https://ucdavis.health/smartsnack
How to Eat Healthy as You Age: https://ucdavis.health/HealthyAging
Health Benefits of Tea: https://ucdavis.health/tea
Tips for Good Gut Health: https://ucdavis.health/GutHealth
UC Davis Health’s Alzheimer’s Disease Center: https://health.ucdavis.edu/alzheimers/
See the latest news from UC Davis Health: https://health.ucdavis.edu/newsroom

#brainhealth #eathealthy #nutrition #snacking

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