Researchers have been doing a lot of study with the help of sophisticated technology, including MRIS and PET scans. Investigators have begun to figure out exactly what goes wrong in the brain of an addict-which neurotransmitting chemicals are out of balance and what regions of the brain are affected. Addictions are repetitive behaviors in the face of negative consequences, the desire to continue something you know is bad for you. Our minds are programmed to pay extra attention to what neurologists call salience-that is, special relevance. Threats, for example, are highly salient, which is why we instinctively try to get away from them. But so are food and sex because they help the individual and the species survive. Drugs of abuse capitalize on this readymade programming. When exposed to drugs, our memory systems, reward circuits, decision making skills and conditioning kick in salience in overdrive-to create an all consuming pattern of uncontrollable craving.

Almost anything deeply enjoyable can turn into an addiction, through. Of course, not everyone becomes an addict. That’s because we have other, more analytical regions that can evaluate, consequences and override mere pleasure seeking. Another area of focus for researchers involves the brain’s reward system, powered largely by the n euro transmitter dopamine. Investigators are looking specifically at the family of dopamine receptors that populate nerve cells and bind to the compound. The hope is that if you can dampen the pleasurable signal, you can loosen the drug’s hold.

One particular group of dopamine receptors, for example, called D3, seems to multiply in the presence of cocaine, methamphetamine and nicotine, making it possible for more of the drug to enter and activate nerve cells. Chemically blocking D3 interrupts an awful lot of the drug’s effects. It is probably the hottest target in modulating the reward system.  If dopamine receptors are the gas, the brain’s own inhibitory systems act as the brakes. To addicts, this natural damping circuit, called GABA (gamma amino butyric acid), appears to be faulty. Without a proper chemical check on excitatory messages set off by drugs the brain never appreciates that it’s been satiated. Hoping that enhancing GABA in the brains of addicts could help them control their drug cravings.

Another treatment is the stress network. Stress can also alter the way the brain thinks; particularly the way it contemplates the consequences of actions. Hormones-of the male-female kind-may play a role in how people become addicted as well. Studies have shown, for instance, that women may be more vulnerable to cravings for nicotine during the later part of the menstrual cycle, when the egg emerges from the follicle and the hormones progesterone and estrogen are released.

If the kind of damage that lingers in an addict’s learning abilities also hangs on in behavioral areas, this could explain why rehabilitation programs that rely on cognitive therapy may not always be effective, especially in the first weeks and months after getting clean. Therapy is a learning process where one is trying to get (addicts) to change cognition and behavior at a time when they are least able to do so.