Acute Toxic Effects of Drugs - Focus on Overdose Deaths

UNODC Scientific Consultation – December 2015

ADDICTION AND THE BRAIN


Aaron White

Senior Scientific Advisor to the Director

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder characterized by a compulsion to seek and take a drug, loss of control over limiting use, and the emergence of a negative emotional state (e.g., dysphoria, anxiety, irritability) when access to the drug is prevented. With chronic drug use, adaptations in the brain lead to a reduction in the positive reinforcing effects of drugs and an increase in the discomfort that follows cessation of use. These changes can leave the user locked in a cycle of binging/intoxication, withdrawal/negative affect and preoccupation / anticipation (craving). We discuss our current knowledge about the brain mechanisms involved at each stage of the addiction process, beginning with the discovery of the reward system and the role of dopamine, and explore new knowledge about the role of stress circuitry in reinforcement and addiction.

About the author

Aaron White, PhD is the Senior Scientific Advisor to the Director at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

He received his PhD in Biological Psychology from Miami University in 1999. His graduate research focused on the brain mechanisms underlying alcohol-induced amnesia (i.e., “blackouts”). After completing two years of post-doctoral training in the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center in 2001, he joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor. His research at Duke focused on the effects of alcohol on adolescent brain function and brain development, alcohol blackouts, adolescent substance abuse treatment and the development of substance abuse prevention and education initiatives. He joined NIAAA in 2008.

Dr. White’s most recent scientific manuscripts examine hospitalizations for alcohol overdoses, drug overdoses and their combinations, trends in alcohol use among females relative to males, suicide related drug poisonings in adolescents and young adults, and the concurrent use of alcohol and alcohol-interactive prescription medications among the US population.