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
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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
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, brain science, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Veterans experience chronic pain at greater rates than the rest of society and are more likely to receive long-term opioid therapy (LTOT), which, at high doses, is theorized to induce maladaptive neuroplastic changes that attenuate self-regulatory capacity…”
Key finding: Study results suggest that mindfulness meditation practice may produce endogenous theta stimulation in the prefrontal cortex, thereby enhancing inhibitory control over opioid dose escalation behaviors.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 12 Sept 2020 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, craving, genetics, mental health. The source abstract begins by describing: “Depression and anxiety frequently co-occur with opioid use disorder (OUD) yet are often overlooked in standard OUD treatments.”
Key finding: Due to the preliminary nature of this pilot study, further research with sample sizes permitting greater statistical power is needed to confirm findings and explore long-term effects.
npj Mental Health Research • 30 Sept 2024 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, brain science, genetics, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Heroin addiction imposes a devastating toll on society.”
Key finding: The authors examined the effect of psychosocial therapy, in addition to medication for heroin dependence, on inhibitory control brain activity and behavioral performance in individuals with heroin use disorder.
Nature Mental Health • 29 Apr 2024 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on dopamine, brain science, craving, genetics. The source abstract begins by describing: “Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has been recognized as a serious mental illness and is often accompanied by depression (IGD-D).”
Key finding: These phenomena were supported by the correlation between FC and behavioral as well as biochemical measures, suggesting that MM is a promising therapy for IGD-D.
Translational Psychiatry • 18 Feb 2026 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on methamphetamine, craving, relapse, mental health. The source abstract begins by describing: “Reducing psychological craving is critical for preventing relapse in methamphetamine use disorder (MUD).”
Key finding: Clinical trial number: This randomized controlled trial was registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (Code: ChiCTR1800020014).
Translational Psychiatry • 26 Aug 2025 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on alcohol, cannabis, brain science, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Current treatments for adolescent alcohol use disorder (AUD) are mainly psychosocial and limited in their efficacy.”
Key finding: Future studies can use these findings to conduct larger, well-powered studies within adolescents with AUD.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 06 Mar 2023 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on alcohol, cannabis, brain science, craving. The source abstract begins by describing: “Novel treatment evaluation for youth with alcohol use disorder (AUD) is needed.”
Neuropsychopharmacology • 11 Jun 2025 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on treatment, review. The source abstract begins by describing: “Recent data show that B cells and plasma cells located in tumours or in tumour-draining lymph nodes can have important roles in shaping antitumour immune responses.”
Key finding: B cells can have both protumour and antitumour roles, and the authors discuss the potential of targeting these cells for therapy.
Nature Reviews Immunology • 27 Jan 2020 • Reviews
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, brain science, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Opioid use disorders cause major morbidity and mortality, and there is a pressing need for novel mechanistic targets and biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis.”
Key finding: Overall, this study shows a panel of cytokines that differ significantly between iHUD and HC, providing a multi-target “cytokine biomarker score” for potential diagnostic purposes, and future examination of disease severity.
Translational Psychiatry • 03 Oct 2024 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, brain science, withdrawal, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Adults with opioid use disorder (OUD) are at increased risk for opioid-related complications and repeated hospital admissions.”
Key finding: In a quasi-experimental, pre–post-implementation study involving 51,760 hospitalizations, an electronic health record-based risk prediction model informed clinicians of patients needing consultation on opioid use disorder and decreased readmissions to the hospital, without increasing referral rates and with promising cost-effectiveness results.
Nature Medicine • 03 Apr 2025 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on nicotine, craving, relapse, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Preclinical research with rodents suggests that the L-type calcium channel blocker isradipine can enhance long-term extinction of conditioned place preference for addictive substances when it is administered in conjunction with extinction training.”
Neuropsychopharmacology • 24 May 2024 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on alcohol, brain science, mental health, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Forty percent of people with bipolar disorder (BD) develop alcohol use disorder (AUD), with co-occurring AUD substantially worsening the course of BD.”
Translational Psychiatry • 03 Jun 2026 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on brain science, craving, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is recognized as a mental health issue.”
Key finding: These findings suggest that MM can effectively treat IGD.
npj Mental Health Research • 31 Jul 2025 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, craving, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Here, in this single-blinded clinical trial (NCT04892251), we assessed the safety and preliminary efficacy of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP) plus Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) for patients with opioid use disorder (OUD).”
Key finding: This research evaluated a single-blinded clinical trial comparing ketamine-assisted psychotherapy combined with Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) against MORE alone for opioid use disorder, demonstrating significant reductions in drug use and cravings without any serious adverse events.
Nature Mental Health • 26 Mar 2026 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on alcohol, cannabis, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Evidence suggests that spironolactone, a nonselective mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) antagonist, modulates alcohol seeking and consumption.”
Key finding: These convergent findings across rodent and human studies demonstrate that spironolactone reduces alcohol use and support the hypothesis that this medication may be further studied as a novel pharmacotherapy for AUD.
Molecular Psychiatry • 20 Sept 2022 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on alcohol, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Alcohol use disorders are among the top causes of the global burden of disease, yet therapeutic interventions are limited.”
Key finding: These findings provide evidence of the potential benefit of semaglutide in AUD in real-world populations and call for further randomized clinical trials.
Nature Communications • 28 May 2024 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on craving, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is marked by impaired psychological and social functioning but remains without effective treatments.”
Key finding: Our findings suggest that closed-loop auditory exposure during SWS presents a promising, non-invasive intervention strategy for treating IGD, potentially exerting its effects by modulating late spindle power.
Molecular Psychiatry • 27 May 2025 • Research
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “To describe obstetrician–gynecologists’ practices and attitudes related to opioid use among pregnant and postpartum women.”
Key finding: Evidence suggests that efforts are needed to enhance physician confidence to manage pregnant and postpartum patients who use opioids, which may increase optimal care of this patient population.
Journal of Perinatology • 15 Oct 2019 • Research
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