One way to get that pleasure is to seek retaliation. Additional brain scan studies have shown that when people imagine ...

Much of the conversation around addiction swings between two worldviews. On one side is the belief that addiction is a brain ...

It is frequently said that addiction occurs when drugs “hijack” the brain. It’s hard to nail down what that means, but it does rightly suggest that there is an involuntary takeover of the brain that ...

Addiction is one of the most intensely studied conditions in modern medicine, yet even with high‑resolution brain scans and ...

Why someone becomes addicted to a substance has long baffled scientists and philosophers. Now leading researchers are getting the clearest picture yet of how addiction works in the brain and body.

You've probably heard about the controversy between the disease model of addiction and the choice model. Stanton Peele, a blogger here on the PT site, waxes eloquent on the topic. You may have even ...

For decades, Americans have been told a simple story about addiction: taking drugs damages the brain—and the earlier in life children start using substances, the more likely they are to progress ...

Scientists have found that the process of adaptive myelination, which helps the brain learn new skills, can also promote addiction to opioids. Our brains, even in adulthood, continually adapt to what ...

Adolescents with an internet addiction undergo changes in the brain that could lead to addictive behavior and tendencies, finds a new study by UCL researchers. The findings, published in PLOS Mental ...

Max Chang and Irene Lee of University College London review neuroimaging studies of the effects of internet addiction on adolescent brains. Published June 4 in PLOS Mental Health, the study indicates ...

Research has found that high-sugar, ultraprocessed foods can be addictive for some people. Doucefleur/iStock via Getty Images Plus People often joke that their favorite snack is “like crack” or call ...

An addiction to ultraprocessed foods can highjack a young brain’s reward circuitry, putting the primitive “reptilian brain,” or amygdala, in charge — thus bypassing the prefrontal cortex where ...