From Mouse to Man

What the latest basic science research is telling us about the human mind

Philip M. Newton, Ph.D. is a Neuroscience Lecturer at Swansea University Medical School in the United Kingdom. See full bio

January 11, 2009, Addiction

Comments on "Potential Treatments for Alcoholism and Drug Addiction"

Potential Treatments for Alcoholism and Drug Addiction

By Phil Newton on January 11, 2009 in From Mouse to Man

A lot of work, in both the public and private sectors, is being put into the development of medications to treat alcohol and drug addiction. Here I will give you an overview of ongoing research and highlight some of the most exciting developments. Read More

Phil, god bless you! -- you look so young

Submitted by Stanton Peele on January 19, 2009 - 4:51pm.

Phil -- all the "cures" you look to are so in the future! If you'd been around as long as I have, you'd recall ALL the many times new drugs have been promoted as the new solutions to addiction, going back to the synthetic endorphin-like substances (Richard Restak wrote in 1977: behind the scenes in medicine today, waves of high excitement are being generated by a group of biochemical agents called endorphins. . . .a veritable philosopher's stone—a group of substances that hold out the promise of alleviating, or even eliminating, such age-old medical bugaboos as pain, drug addiction, and, among other mental illnesses, schizophrenia.

If you want to see my very fundamental epistemological disagreement with this thinking, do look at these blogs:
http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/addiction-in-society/200804/no-pii...

http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/addiction-in-society/200804/open-l...

All best! -- Stanon

Yes we can

Submitted by Phil Newton on January 20, 2009 - 9:50am.

Perhaps, on this Day of Change, it's time for some young(er) blood and new ideas! As for endorphins curing the disorders you mentioned, well almost all of the medications for severe pain are synthetic endorphins that act at opioid receptors. As for drug addiction; naltrexone, which I mentioned is the most (but not very) effective medication for the treatment of drug addiction, acts by blocking the activity of endorphins. So in this example the thinking has been fairly well vindicated.

Addiction recovery.

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