Addiction often isn’t about chasing pleasure—it’s about escaping pain. Researchers at Scripps Research have discovered that a tiny brain region called the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT) ...

Explore the connections between the world of neuroscience and nuances of substance use disorders with our inaugural episode of In Such a Place. We’ll speak with Dr. Anna Radke, a leading expert in the ...

For years, addiction was seen as a matter of personal failure—a bad habit or a lack of discipline. People believed those who struggled with substance abuse could stop if they simply wanted to. But ...

that their favourite snack is “like crack” or call themselves “chocoholics” in jest. But can someone really be addicted to food in the same way they could be hooked on substances such as alcohol or ...

Anne Giles wishes she’d understood the science behind addiction four years ago when she stood in her kitchen carefully measuring one cup of wine. Instead, she thought if she could drink only that one ...

Health Affairs' Rob Lott interviews Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health, to discuss addiction as a brain disorder, treatments for ...

Extreme instances of stress can cause lasting changes to the brain itself. This could leave some people more vulnerable to addiction, a University of Mississippi study concludes. The study's insight ...

Remarkable scientific progress over the past five decades has helped us develop knowledge of how drugs of abuse induce pleasure, reinforce use, and lead to the compulsive self-administration we call ...

Matt Field receives research funding from the Medical Research Council, National Institute for Health Research, Alcohol Change UK, and the Academic Forum for the Study of Gambling. He is a trustee of ...