Questions tagged [addiction]

For questions about the use and abuse of substances or behaviors that provoke a consequence

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How related are the notions of TV and Social Networks "addictions" to lack of physical social interactions?

QUESTION What are (if any) the scientific bases to claim that the people from the western civilization who complained about fictions (e.g. movies, tv series, etc.) and social networks (e.g. Facebook, ...
J..y B..y's user avatar
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Does the disease model of addiction presume that free will exists?

I have been studying the disease model of addiction; and from what I have read here, free will is part of the disease model of addiction. That linked document cites the following: “Addiction Is a ...
Dennis Francis Blewett's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
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Recovery program alternatives to the 12-step program

I have been looking at recovery programs for alcohol and/or drug addictions and I came across the term 12-step recovery program which seems to be a standard. Looking at what the steps involve on the ...
Chris Rogers's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
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Could opiate addictions be treated with esterase inhibitors?

Since heroin is a prodrug (i.e inactive) and must be metabolized into morphine by certain esterase enzymes in order to produce psychoactive effects, would some esterase inhibitors theoretically ...
Rider's user avatar
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Can using an artificial intelligence assistant be addictive?

Can using an artificial intelligence assistant be addictive? I spoke to a very satisfying chatbot - his answers are fun and satisfying. I wonder about the consequences of this, because things that ...
user61253764's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
75 views

Dopaminergic basis for gambling addiction

Im wondering how the blunted reward system/desensitization to rewards comes about in behavioural addictions like gambling if there is no dopamine downregulation. I assumed it shared the downregulation ...
Jim stoke's user avatar
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Can one be "addicted to learning"? [closed]

According to Merriam-Webster's dictionary, an addiction is a compulsive, chronic, physiological or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, behavior, or activity having harmful physical, ...
Marcus's user avatar
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1 answer
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Why are there substances that give positive psychological effects but become unhealthy addictions?

In a very general way, why is the brain a system that responds euphorically in response to certain stimulants yet over time that substance may be addictive and have negative health effects? What is it ...
Julius H.'s user avatar
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Why are some behaviours not/less addictive than others even though they bring great pleasure?

I'm wondering why some behaviour like gambling is highly addictive, while playing soccer/basketball etc, despite clearly being pleasurable given their popularity seem much less so. Ive never seen ...
Jim stoke's user avatar
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-1 votes
1 answer
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What makes a behaviour or substance highly addictive?

Why are some things addictive, while others that are also "fun" are not? For example gambling is addictive, but player football obviously less so. Ive never come across somebody that had to ...
Jim stoke's user avatar
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7 votes
2 answers
907 views

Is "Emotional Pain Addiction" real?

Question Is "Emotional Pain Addiction" a real phenomenon, a legitimate concept? Definition Emotional pain can become an addiction. A negative feeling, such as anger, worry, grief, fear, ...
Starckman's user avatar
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Is chess a good game for recovering addicts?

I asked this question in Chess Stack Exchange and they sugested me to ask it here: In this interview to FIDE Master and psychologist Maria Rodrigo the interviewer asked her about chess and addictions: ...
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Is memory adversely affected after you stop smoking?

An answer to Can you use harmful addictions to build good habits? points to an interesting article by Heishman et al. (2010) which points out that: Short-term episodic memory-accuracy Analysis of the ...
Chris Rogers's user avatar
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Would you still be addicted to something if you lost your memory of being addicted to it? [duplicate]

If someone was addicted to something, it could be substances/gambling/sex etc... and then they lost their memory. It could be just losing the memory of the addiction or full blown global amnesia ...
Umayr Dawood's user avatar
2 votes
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From a neuroscientific point of view does internet gaming disorder have the same effect on the brain as porn addiction?

Wang, et al. (2015) proved that among people with internet gaming disorder GMV (Gray Matter Volume) of the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), precuneus, supplementary motor area (SMA), ...
epithite32's user avatar
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268 views

Can Telegram, Whatsapp and Discord groups be addictive?

Can groups on Whatsapp, Telegram and Discord potentially addictive? They provide powerful social rewards like being constantly connected to a large number of people and endless streams of content. ...
Wodin Tiw's user avatar
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Deaddiction and neural plasticity in case of the elderly

It is known that prolonged nicotine use alters the brain's connectivity. Nicotine exerts its neurophysiologic action principally through the brain’s reward center.2 Neuroadaptation develops with ...
ahron's user avatar
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Can the administration of self-report measures of craving prompt participants with addiction to experience craving during the experiment?

My research focuses on measuring the neural correlates (through resting-state EEG) pre-post an improvisational music therapy session (MT sessions) in clients with substance misuse. One of my variable ...
Fil's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
5k views

Is fasting an effective method to overcome substance addictions?

I recently watched a testimony of a man who reports the results of a 40-day water/juice fast (no food). The individual claims to have been addicted to drugs for 22 years, including marijuana, cocaine, ...
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3 votes
1 answer
392 views

Are there cases of drug addict that "forget" their addiction after some brain damages?

I'm interested in what I naively call "memory of addiction" - i.e. the brain restructuration that drugs addicts have and which causes the addict to need more and more to be satisfied. Then, ...
MiKiDe's user avatar
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recommendations for good books focusing on the reward system, motivation and addiction

As the title states, I would like to get recommendations for some good reads about the brain's reward system, motivation and addiction. In particular I'm looking for a book that assumes no ...
Alex Goldovsky's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
532 views

Can someone be healed from a long-held addiction or compulsive disorder in an instant and without therapy due to a dramatic spiritual experience?

Can someone be healed from a long-held addiction or compulsive disorder in an instant due to a dramatic spiritual experience and without therapy? My question is motivated by multiple conversion ...
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What are some methods to manage a constant & persistent temptation or urge towards a bad habit like smoking, eating junk food? [closed]

This questions is around my observation of my own behavioral pattern. I am quite good at avoiding junk foods on some days and on others, I am miserably fail. I have some mild clinical depression and ...
old-monk's user avatar
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Which paper was it that defined addiction as a release?

I read somewhere that a psychologist in 1949 (or somewhere around that) described sexual addiction as a release. I don't remember the author's name nor the title of the paper. The gist of that ...
Knight wants Loong back's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
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Can we change a particular addiction into another addiction?

My current knowledge about dopamine and serotonin came from a series of articles and web pages, a few videos also. As per my knowledge and readings I know that addiction is about reward, a person’s ...
Knight wants Loong back's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
224 views

Long term cocaine use and personality change - Scientific references?

I've experienced cocaine addicts first hand and noticed the development of egoistic personality traits such as selfishness or loss of empathy in cocaine addicts. Are there any scientific references ...
CuriousIndeed's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
69 views

To what extent is control over when a substance is used relevant to addiction?

For example, let's say someone uses X amount of heroin a week, and no more than Y a day. If somehow their arm is connected to a device that randomly (unpredictably, but within their "waking leisure ...
paizhaulski's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
258 views

Are the findings of the Rat Park experiments applicable to porn addiction?

Many people say porn is addictive, but the conversation around this sounds quite similar to the conversation around drugs - https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/...
Jimmy Widdle's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
251 views

Can addiction develop to the absence of a normally present negative stimulus?

I am wondering, can someone become addicted to the absence or the removal of a negative stimulus? Normally, addiction is associated with pleasure-inducing drugs, like opiates and amphetamines as ...
AliceD's user avatar
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How addictive is Heroine?

I keep hearing that "*Heroine is so addictive the very first dose is enough to get you hooked on it*". Personally, I have a hard time believing any substance could do that to you. But I could believe ...
User1291's user avatar
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"Dependence" in DSM-5

I've read with some interest and amusement the following first-hand account (2006) on the confusion surrounding the DSM-IV meaning of "dependence" : One of us (C.O.) was a member of the ...
Fizz's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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Study about addiction to placebo

I was wondering if anyone knows about a study where people were given a placebo, then told over and over that it was addictive and would have terrible trouble coming off of it. It would be nice if ...
Mardymar's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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Beyond CBT and MBI, what are effective behavioral interventions for modern lifestyle addictions during their engagement?

Some modern activities exploit the primitive mammalian reward areas in the brain. They include immediate access to social media, video games, music, sugar, pornographic material, gambling etc. Worse, ...
Wuschelbeutel Kartoffelhuhn's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
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Is there a formal name for the compulsive and recurrent urges to pick one's nose in order to remove perceived imperfections?

Under which formal category does the following condition fall?: the condition of experiencing frequent and compulsive urges to pick one's nose searching for any possible perceived imperfections (be ...
xwb's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
393 views

Brain and General Sections

Whereabouts in the brain gets triggered/switched on when an addictive substance is ingested/taken. I'm doing an addiction study with a couple of colleagues and would like some help with it.
Rhys Anderson's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
139 views

Are there any types of good addiction

Many more things than I previously thought can be considered addiction, so I was wondering whether an addiction is always bad
stwykd's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
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Best meditation techniques to overcome Behavioral Addictions?

Meditation seems to be one of the top techniques recommended nowadays for self-development (e.g. McGonigal, K. 2011). For people who want to overcome behavioural addictions (i.e. any "addiction that ...
xwb's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
5k views

Can you get addicted from using topical or local anaesthetics to ease pain?

I've been wondering if there was such a thing as developing some kind of physical or psychological dependence on things that relieve pain. While we often hear about opioid addiction, which is ...
HeavenlyHarmony's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
244 views

Childhood IQ and pattern of drug use in adulthood

A study by White et al. (2012) using a large UK sample concludes that In this cohort, high childhood IQ was related to illegal drug use in adulthood. Note that this does not refer to habitual ...
Fizz's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
441 views

Is tianeptine addictive?

A recent (2014) study in cell cultures has found that tianeptine is a mu-opioid receptor (MOR) agonist (and [mentioning for completeness] delta opioid receptor agonist as well, albeit weaker). It's ...
Fizz's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
233 views

Causality studies between porn use and masturbation frequency?

Research into purported porn addiction (which goes by many names, PPU = problematic porn use being one) identified strong correlation between porn use and frequency of masturbation. For instance: Is ...
Fizz's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
248 views

Why brain can't get used to low dopamine levels? [closed]

When you use dopamine increasing drugs (such as cocaine) for long time the brain down-regulates dopamine receptors.Then dopamine has less sites to bind, therefore not making the same effect as before, ...
Wardruna's user avatar
3 votes
0 answers
59 views

Is there a name for sudden addiction relieving clarity? [closed]

I struggled for years to quit smoking, then after many failed attempts I stopped without any difficulty. I've also experienced this on other things, like when I'll want to do something but I lack the ...
Amadeus's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
173 views

Comparison of Aversion Therapy to other interventions for nail-biting

A product Pavlock, which is essentially a shock bracelet for Aversion Therapy, markets itself as an intervention for a range of habits, including procrastination and nail-biting. Wikipedia cites the ...
Seanny123's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
145 views

Why do people get addicted to things like TV, Facebook, games?

I am studying for exams but there's a TV series I couldn't get enough of. Is there any explanation to all addiction thing that happens with our brain? EDIT I'm not talking about procrastination but ...
McGucket's user avatar
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4 votes
0 answers
72 views

Applications of project management techniques to managing recovery while in residential addiction treatment programs [closed]

As some background, the Scrum process is a project management process used primarily in software engineering (it's what's sometimes called a type of Agile methodology). Its focus is on developing ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
234 views

Why does an addict always remain one? [closed]

I'm asking this from a purely psychological and biological viewpoint, mainly why a drug addict is said to always remain one, even after sobering up.
Alex's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
112 views

Is there a technical term for someone being burnt out on something they enjoy?

What I mean is like how one might tire of a typical everyday activity they enjoy if they indulge in it too much, like how if you listen to your favorite album too many times you eventually won't be ...
Mike's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
218 views

Why is Internet Addiction Disorder not listed in the DSM-5 manual?

Disclaimer - I am not a student of psychology. I'm currently researching Internet Addiction Disorder and online games for a paper I'm writing. Is there an actual reason why it's not included? Is it ...
Matt's user avatar
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6 votes
1 answer
2k views

Can music be addictive?

As playing games for a prolonged period, tend to develop a addictive behavior in humans, Is there any possibility for addiction to music? I.e., when a person listens to certain list of songs and gets ...
Snazzy Sanoj's user avatar