title: Addiction: pulling at the neural threads of social behaviors.
abstract: Addiction coopts the brain's neuronal circuits necessary for insight, reward, motivation, and social behaviors. This functional overlap results in addicted individuals making poor choices despite awareness of the negative consequences; it explains why previously rewarding life situations and the threat of judicial punishment cannot stop drug taking and why a medical rather than a criminal approach is more effective in curtailing addiction.
authors.affiliation: National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. nvolkow@nida.nih.gov
authors.forename: Nora D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Volkow
authors.forename: Ruben D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Baler
authors.forename: Rita Z
authors.initials: RZ
authors.lastname: Goldstein
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011640:Public Policy; D012919:Social Behavior; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy