Cocaine addiction: psychology and neurophysiology

Cocaine was considered incapable of producing dependence in 1980 but was recently proclaimed the drug of greatest national health concern. Recent clinical and preclinical investigations demonstrate that cocaine produces unique abuse and withdrawal patterns that differ from those of other major abused drugs and suggest that long-term cocaine abuse produces neurophysiological alterations in specific systems in the central nervous system that regulate the capacity to experience pleasure. It will be necessary to develop clinically pertinent research models before these findings can be considered definitive, but these evolving ideas have already led to applications of promising experimental treatments for cocaine abuse.     

学生网络成瘾的原因与预防

学生是互联网使用的主要人群之一,部分学生使用互联网甚至达到病态的程度,即互联网成瘾。澄清原因,合理使用互联网,防止网络成瘾,对学生提供恰当有效的帮助已成为教育工作的一项重要任务。     

青少年迷恋网络色情的原因分析

随着电脑、互联网的日益普及,网络正飞速渗透到人们生活的方方面面,青少年成为网民大军中一个重要群体.据中国互联网络信息中心2003年7月公布的<第12次中国互联网络发展状况统计报告>的数据显示,在全国共6800万网络用户中,24岁以下的青年人占了56.2%,呈逐年上升趋势.面对鱼龙混杂的网络信息,生理、心理发展尚不成熟的青少年极易受不良网络信息特别是网络色情的诱惑,对其成长成才造成不良影响.青少年是祖国未来的希望和主人,关注他们的健康成长,分析其迷恋网络色情的原因,将更有利于探寻有效的引导、防范、纠正对策,本文拟就青少年迷恋网络色情的原因做些分析.     

Abnormal brain structure implicated in stimulant drug addiction

Addiction to drugs is a major contemporary public health issue, characterized by maladaptive behavior to obtain and consume an increasing amount of drugs at the expense of the individual's health and social and personal life. We discovered abnormalities in fronto-striatal brain systems implicated in self-control in both stimulant-dependent individuals and their biological siblings who have no history of chronic drug abuse; these findings support the idea of an underlying neurocognitive endophenotype for stimulant drug addiction.     

Damage to the insula disrupts addiction to cigarette smoking

A number of brain systems have been implicated in addictive behavior, but none have yet been shown to be necessary for maintaining the addiction to cigarette smoking. We found that smokers with brain damage involving the insula, a region implicated in conscious urges, were more likely than smokers with brain damage not involving the insula to undergo a disruption of smoking addiction, characterized by the ability to quit smoking easily, immediately, without relapse, and without persistence of the urge to smoke. This result suggests that the insula is a critical neural substrate in the addiction to smoking.