The breakthrough that could lead to huge advances in addiction medicine has
Researchers may have stumbled upon the beginnings of a cure for addiction.
come from a seemingly unlikely source, research of stroke victims. Scientists have known for some time that stroke victims were incredibly important for nuero-research. The brain is incredibly complex. Sometimes the only way to know what a part of the brain does is to turn it off. It can be difficult to predict what information we will get from this type of study. Today, the information provided by research could be groundbreaking for the addiction community.
The findings showed that smokers who had strokes in the insular cortex region of the brain were more likely to quit smoking than people who had strokes in other brain regions. Apparently, the insular cortex has a major effect on withdrawal symptoms. It actually reduces the symptoms to a tolerable level in most people. It can be inferred from those findings that this region of the brain could have effects throughout the spectrum of substance abuse disorders.
Studies in the past of the insular cortex brain region have exhibited that it played a major role in substance abuse disorders. What remains vague, as of now, is what kind of affects you may have by altering this part of the brain. It seems oddly reminiscent of the old days of lunatic asylums and frontal lobe lobotomies. Thankfully, much more research is needed to develop any kind of addiction treatment based on the studies.
Two studies have been conducted on these findings. They have been published in medical journals; Addictive Behaviors, and Addiction.
Amir Abdolahi, a research scientist from Philips Research North America announced, “These findings indicate that the insular cortex may play a central role in addiction. When this part of the brain is damaged during stroke, smokers are about twice as likely to stop smoking and their craving and withdrawal symptoms are far less severe.”
The evidence is clear. Almost 70% of stroke victims (38 total subjects, all of whom were smokers) where the insular cortex was affected quit smoking within 90 days. There were 156 total stroke victims included in the findings. Both studies that were done looked into two factors of likelihood that an individual would stop smoking. They looked at cravings to smoke during the initial hospitalization and whether they began smoking again after their strokes.
Tobacco addiction is one of the largest causes of early death in the world. The physically addictive chemical, nicotine, is one of the most difficult substances to break free of. It kills about 20% of Americans every year.
Current treatments for nicotine addictions disrupt the reward centers in the amygdala. This type of treatment has a very high rate of relapse. As many as 30% of smokers are back smoking again after only a 6 month period of abstinence.
What’s yet to remain unseen is the method for using this new information to save the lives of those struggling with addiction. How can we manipulate the insular cortex to cure drug addiction? What kind of side effects could operating on this part of the brain have on a person? Though the next step is unknown, this could be the beginnings of a cure for addiction.
