The mystery of why one person becomes hooked
on alcohol, heroin, sex or gambling, and another remains free of
addiction, lies deep in the brain and is largely determined by our
genes.
Professor Wim van den Brink, from the Academic
Medical Centre at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands
and a leading expert in the field of addiction, told the Annual
Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists today (Friday 4 July)
that addicts have fewer dopamine or pleasure receptors in the brain
and consequently seek out more and more stimulation.
“Addicts find it difficult to receive
pleasure,” said Prof van den Brink. “They are not likely to enjoy
most of the ordinary things most of us enjoy, experiences such as a
day at the beach or night at a club. They are looking for more and
more stimulus.”
However, Professor van den Brink stated that a
person’s genetic vulnerability to addiction does not automatically
translated into real alcohol and drug disease – there are also
environmental influences.
He said: “You might start off smoking or
taking cocaine, and that first introduction is very much determined
by your environment. But to stick with it and become dependent on
it is genetically determined.”
Ironically, if someone continues to take their
substance of choice, the number of dopamine receptors drop even
more. “In this way addicts become even more interested in drugs and
drug-using friends,” said Prof van den Brink.
The emotional memory of the ‘wonderful
experience and the drive to repeat it leads to craving and relapse,
said Prof van den Brink. Moreover, addicts fail to understand, or
register, the conflict between the short-term pleasure the
substance gives them and the damage long-term addiction can do.
For further information, please contact Liz Fox or Deborah
Hart in the Communications Department.
Telephone: 020 7235 2351 Extensions. 6298 or 6127
References:
The Annual Meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Imperial College, London, 1 – 4 July 2008