Innovative approaches to treating addiction

Abstract

The thesis talks about addiction, its pathomechanism and approaches to treating it, both current and innovative approaches. It tries to show that addiction is not just a will power problem but there are structural changes in the brain which reinforce the addiction problem. Knowing this helps to reduce stigma around addiction and creates an environment where addiction treatment can be explored more seriously and find ways to curb it. The pathomechanism behind it is increased drug use interferes with the brain reward circuit. When a person takes drugs there is an increase in dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, amygdala, prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. These areas are involved in memory of drug use environments, creating drug related cues, craving and impaired decision making all of which characterise addiction and create a burden on the user. The treatment approaches discussed are current pharmacological approaches, novel pharmacotherapies, immunotherapy, epigenetic modulators and neuromodulation.