Neurobiology of Addiction

Neurobiology of Addiction
Brought to you by Akikur Mohammad MD
Board Certified in Addiction, Psychiatry, and Neurology
Founder of Inspire Malibu Addiction Treatment Center
Associate Professor at USC Keck School of Medicine

To Understand the complexities of Addiction and it's Neurobiology, it's important to understand the brain's reward pathway.

Information travels through the VTA area to the Nucleus Accumbens to the Prefrontal Cortex.

These reward pathways make us feel pleasure and are activated by stimuli such as food, water or sex. These same areas are also involved in addiction.

Alcohol and Drug Use Changes the way the brain works. You can see a normal functioning brain on the left and the abnormal functioning addicted brain on the right.

Prolonged use of alcohol and drugs also changes the structure of the brain. You can see the normal healthy brain structure on the left and the abnormal addicted brain structure on the right which could be long-lasting.

For more information about the Neurobiology of Addiction visit:
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[LoveYourNeighbors]

What do the greater portion of yellow color in the healthy brain and the bigger portion of blue color in the brain signify?

[gocos]

It seems like all this shows is that the brain of someone in addiction is different from someone who doesn't experience addiction (aka, someone with a healthy brain), which is fascinating and beneficial. However, how do we know the addiction is what changed the brain as opposed to someone having a brain that is already that way and as a result, that individual seeks out addictive substances to correct an underlying issue?

[ayrider]

My classwork brought me here and stopped my music from playing. Made my eye twitch.