12 November 2016

The substance-related  disorders encompass 10 separate classes of drugs….  All drugs that are taken in excess have in common direct activation of the brain reward system, which is involved in the reinforcement of behaviors and the production of memories.

We continue what we wrote yesterday and speak about two ways to the reward system: a long one and a short one. However, let’s first separate alcohol dependence from addiction. Conceptually, the definition of alcohol abuse through the addiction shows the American tradition tendency that led to the exclusion of this definition of the alcohol dependence from DSM-5 system. The arguments of this position are clear to me. If there’s a dependence, from what, then?