News / Health & Wellness
The Addiction Gene
A new study finds a connection between genetics and lack of self-control often present in those who’ve battled substance abuse.
It’s a question often asked by those battling addiction as well as family and friends: Why do some people seem to have no problem saying “no” to drugs, while others can’t stop once they start?
It turns out that many addicts inherit a brain that has trouble just saying no to drugs. We’ve long known that there is some sort of genetic component to addiction, but new studies continue to discover more specifics. The latest research from the publication Science shows that cocaine addicts have abnormalities in areas of the brain involved in self-control, and these abnormalities appear to predate any drug abuse.
The study, done by a team at the University of Cambridge in the UK looked at 50 pairs of siblings. One member of each pair was a cocaine addict. The other had no history of drug abuse. Interestingly, brain scans showed that both siblings had brains unlike those of typical people, and fibers that connect the different parts of the brain were less efficient in both, researches explain.
The fibers in question connect areas involved in emotion with areas that tell us when to stop doing something. When these fibers aren't working efficiently, it takes longer for a "stop" message to get through. The research team found that in various experiments both siblings took longer than a typical person to respond to a signal telling them to stop performing a task.
It’s the fact that siblings without drug problems also had impaired self-control that presents strong evidence that these brain abnormalities are inherited. It also raises the question how one sibling can manage this brain abnormality without using drugs while the other sibling can’t.
In reporting on studies like these, it’s always important to remind everyone that a predisposition to use drugs does not mean a person is predestined to use drugs. There is an element of choice for everyone, and no matter what traits you’ve inherited, it IS possible to say “no.”
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