The Pokemon GO craze has tapped in to our desire to seek out rewards. But there different types of rewards in life, each designed to capture our attention, even train our behaviour.
Awareness of social factors, such as society’s perpetuation of masculinity, are critical to understanding the interconnections between trauma, disadvantage and substance abuse in young men.
Lina Begdache, Binghamton University, State University of New York
College students who take stimulants such as Adderall to get an academic edge might be setting themselves up unknowingly to a vicious cycle of substance abuse and addiction.
What exactly is addiction? What role, if any, does choice play? And if addiction involves choice, how can we call it a “brain disease,” with its implications of involuntariness?
We don’t know enough about the people who use painkillers non-medically to make the judgement that there is a natural transition from legal to illicit drug use.
We are witnessing widespread abuse of legal, prescribed drugs that, while structurally similar to illicit opioids such as heroin, are used for sound medical practices. So how did we get here?
TV networks and streaming services are encouraging viewers to binge-watch their favorite shows. But findings from a recent study point to a potential public health concern.
Susan M. Snyder, Georgia State University; Jennifer E. O'Brien, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Wen Li, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Internet addiction has the same symptoms as any substance abuse disorder. Trying to stop its use can lead to moodiness or even depression.
Why have the demographics of heroin use changed so much? For that, we can look to dramatic increase in prescriptions for opioid painkillers, such as Oxycontin or Vicodin.