Research Library / Article Summary

The dopamine theory of addiction: 40 years of highs and lows

Plain-English AddictionTube research summary with source link, DOI, key finding, and recovery relevance.

Nature Reviews Neuroscience • 15 Apr 2015 • Reviews

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Research focus

This article may help explain addiction science through research on alcohol, cannabis, nicotine, dopamine. The source abstract begins by describing: “In this Opinion article, Nutt and colleagues examine the history of and current evidence for the dopamine theory of addiction.”

Key finding: These observations have implications for understanding reward and treatment responses in various addictions.

Why this may help: This may help explain why addiction can involve brain, behavior, mental health, craving, relapse, or treatment factors rather than simple willpower alone. It should be read as research information, not personal medical advice.

Article details

Authors: David J. Nutt, Anne Lingford-Hughes, Paul R. A. Stokes

DOI: 10.1038/nrn3939

Open access: Not marked open access

Open original source article

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