General Article Why we become addicted

Topic Selected: Addiction Book Volume: 410

Addiction has to start somewhere. It begins with exposure, moves on to casual use and eventually turns to dependence. The brain adapts to the drug activity, becomes tolerant to it and demands more each time.

But not everyone becomes addicted. It’s estimated that two million people in the UK are currently fighting an addiction. Many people drink or use drugs casually, but only some become psychologically dependent.

Great progress had been made in recent years in understanding why that is. Scie...

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