David Nutt - Addiction

OPL
OXFORD PSYCHIATRY LIBRARY

Addiction

OPL
OXFORD PSYCHIATRY LIBRARY

Professor David J. Nutt

The Edmond J Safra Chair in Neuropsychopharmacology,
Centre for Neuropsychopharmacology,
Division of Brain Sciences,
Department of Medicine,
Imperial College London
United Kingdom

Dr Liam J. Nestor

Centre for Neuropsychopharmacology,
Division of Brain Sciences,
Department of Medicine,
Imperial College London
United Kingdom

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP,
United Kingdom

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Substance addiction is conceived to involve a loss of self-control. Despite their best efforts and expressed preferences to remain abstinent, substance addiction populations often appear incapable of exerting sufficient control over their substance urges, their substance-seeking and substance-taking behaviours. The origins of substance addiction appear to be related to the long-term pharmacological effects of substances on an already, potentially genetically compromised set of neural circuits in the brain. There are credible theories regarding the initiation of substance abuse (e.g. a reward deficiency syndrome, impulsivity/impaired cognitive control, stress) whose antecedents likely involve interactions between several neurotransmitter systems (e.g. dopamine, endorphins, GABA, glutamate) in the brain. This appears to be supported, to some degree, by the potential efficacy of some pharmacotherapies (e.g. agonists/antagonists at dopamine, endorphin, GABA, and glutamate receptors) that have been shown to increase the likelihood of substance abstinence and prevent relapse. Further research is required, however, in an attempt to fully define the neurochemistry of important behavioural components of substance addiction (e.g. craving, impulsivity) that feature prominently in substance use disorders, particularly with respect to substance relapse after significant periods of protracted abstinence.

The following volume will attempt to inform clinicians and other healthcare professionals about some of the more fundamental psychological, neurobiological, and pharmacological concepts that are applicable to the treatment of substance abuse and addiction. The following volume will place particular emphasis on reporting and discussing the seminal findings of human neuroscience research in substance addiction and clinical trials in different substance addiction populations.

David J. Nutt
Liam J. Nestor