Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Drug addiction can also be caused Descendants

Drug addiction is always been complex problems. The study found that drug addiction can be caused by heredity. The scientists found abnormalities in the brain of drug addicts and siblings who are not addicts.   

"Substance abuse is known can run into families. Having a family member who is addicted to drugs increase the risk of addiction to 8-10 per cent compared to the average person. But we have yet to find genes that influence this addiction," said Tapi Karen Esche at University of Cambridge in England as VOA News reported on Tuesday (03/13/2012).

Esche team used MRI brain scans to photograph the brains of cocaine addicts and their siblings who are not addicts. Brain scans showed the same abnormalities in the pre-frontal and striatal brain. This pattern was not found in volunteers who did not have an addiction and drug addict brothers.

The researchers also examined the participants to see how quickly the ability to move from one task to another. Siblings of addicts get the worse results than the healthy volunteers. This shows the high impulsivity and lack of restraint on drug addicts and their siblings.

"The thing that puts addicts drugs so that higher risk is the lack of self-control. Loss of control over the use of illicit drugs is one of the characteristics of addiction," said Esche.

Nora Volkow, director of the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse says that the brain abnormalities found in siblings of addicts are not caused by drug abuse. He believed that people who use drugs are genetically prone to resist the temptation.

"Even if someone has a vulnerability that makes the brain is not functioning properly can be overcome with proper psychological treatment. Early intervention will help to strengthen itself so it can withstand the temptation," said Volkow.

According to Volkow, aerobic exercise is proven to improve the body to control the urge or temptation. Computer training programs are designed to strengthen the pre-frontal brain that cause addiction also proved successful.

A Swedish study also found that children of biological parents who are addicted to drugs continue to have an addiction even when raised in a healthy environment.

The study, published in the journal Archives of Medical Psychiatry examined the 18,000 people that was adopted in 1960 until 1993. The findings suggest that the risk of addiction increases foster child if one or both biological parents have addictions.

In this study, the researchers reviewed the medical records of elderly people in 1961 to 2009 to find out cases of addiction, psychological disorders or divorce both the birth parents and adoptive parents.

The results showed that the risk of addiction increases if the adopted child's family environment is not healthy enough. But the greatest risk of addiction found in children when one of his biological parents had an addiction and was raised by a family who are also addicted.

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