You say, "What, me? I don’t use drugs," but FOOD be just as addictive, and people DO get "hooked" on certain foods. Psychiatrist Ashley Gerhardt examined the links between food addiction symptoms and neural activation in 48 young women ranging from lean to obese. He found that persons with an addictive-like eating behavior seem to have greater neural activity in brain regions similar to substance dependence. read more
Are you an alcoholic or one of those white people with a "jones" for cocaine? Researchers have produced a lasting anti-cocaine immunity in mice by giving them a safe vaccine that combines bits of the common cold virus with a particle that mimics cocaine. This novel strategy might be the first to offer cocaine addicts a fairly simple way to break and reverse their habit, and it might also be useful in healing other addictions, such as to nicotine, heroin and other opiates. (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this special interview).
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You may pride yourself on the fact that you stay away from drugs, but if you eat too much, you may be an addict–to FOOD. Sweets and high-fat foods affect the brain the same way drugs do–and like drugs, eating too much of these can cause permanent changes in the parts of the brain that control our eating behavior. Both animal and human brains have special pathways that make us feel good when we eat food with lots of calories.read more
Is your grandmother constantly playing Bingo? Do your friends take every vacation in Las Vegas, even though they can’t afford to lose? When relatives come to visit, do they always make a detour to a nearby Indian reservation in order to gamble? You can have a gambling problem the same way you can be addicted to alcohol or drugs?it’s the same personality profile. And just like alcoholics and drug addicts, gamblers need the help of a twelve-step program.
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