Research focus
This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, review. The source abstract begins by describing: “Significant breakthroughs in the field of injury prevention and childhood safety have occurred during the past half-century.”
Key finding: Focused efforts to reduce unintentional injuries from opiate overdoses, firearms and motor vehicle crashes may produce a breakthrough in the field of injury prevention similar to that of the Poison Prevention Packaging Act.
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.
This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, withdrawal, craving, relapse. The source abstract begins by describing: “Existing pharmacological treatment options for opioid use disorder (OUD) face challenges that limit their efficacy.”
Key finding: This review adopts a translational approach to achieve several aims: (1) to outline the fundamental theories of orexin system function and relate orexinergic dysfunction to the disordered motivation and withdrawal states that characterize OUD; (2) to provide an up-to-date evaluation of preclinical and clinical evidence bases supporting the efficacy of orexin receptor antagonism for the treatment of OUD; (3) to discuss key clinical considerations of repurposing DORAs for OUD treatment, including safety and side effects (i.e., respiratory depression, anhedonia, and risk for abuse); and (4) to highlight the ongoing clinical efforts to determine therapeutic efficacy and safety profiles of DORAs for use in OUD populations.
Translational Psychiatry • 24 Oct 2025 • Reviews
opioidwithdrawalcravingrelapsemental healthtreatment
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, brain science, relapse, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a chronic relapsing disorder that, whilst initially driven by activation of brain reward neurocircuits, increasingly engages anti-reward neurocircuits that drive adverse emotional states and relapse.”
Key finding: This Primer by Strang, Volkow and colleagues discusses the risk factors of opioid use disorder, together with its epidemiology, mechanisms, diagnosis and treatment.
Nature Reviews Disease Primers • 09 Jan 2020 • Reviews
opioidbrain sciencerelapsetreatmentreview
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, genetics, mental health, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Gambling disorder is characterized by a persistent, recurrent pattern of gambling that is associated with substantial distress or impairment.”
Key finding: This Primer describes the epidemiology, neurobiology, diagnosis, screening, prevention and treatment of this behavioural disorder, and discusses the quality of life of individuals affected.
Nature Reviews Disease Primers • 25 Jul 2019 • Reviews
opioidgeneticsmental healthtreatmentreview
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, alcohol, cocaine, cannabis. The source abstract begins by describing: “Mitchell O, Caudy MS.”
Neuropsychopharmacology • 17 Aug 2021 • Reviews
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, cannabis, dopamine, brain science. The source abstract begins by describing: “The effects of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, are a pressing concern for global mental health.”
Key finding: Future research, they suggest, should focus on the relationships between cannabis-induced alterations in the dopamine system and behavioural effects in humans and animal models.
Nature • 16 Nov 2016 • Reviews
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