Science and Addiction | Medical Consequences

The 12 Steps

The 12 Steps in a Generic Form

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Calendar of online meetings

Forums

Forum conversations about the 12 Steps

Relapse

Like most of the chronic diseases that we know of in medicine, addiction could be considered a chronic and remitting, relapsing disease. In other words, it’s normal for the disease process to re-activate over time. It can even re-activate after it has gone temporarily into remission. Unfortunately, with addiction, relapses can result in death. And it only takes one relapse to result in death. So, the goal has always been to decrease the relapse rates for this disease. If we look at traditional outcomes for treating people with the disease of addiction relapse is clearly the norm, it is not the exception by any means. In fact, although we don’t have good numbers for any of this, probably around 85-86% of people relapse after they get into formal treatment for the disease of addiction.

Dr. Todd Carran is based at TheRidgeOhio.com, based just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio, which is a full service residential drug & alcohol treatment center.

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Understanding

Dr. Todd Carran gives an overview of the disease of addiction and briefly introduces the changes in the brain during addiction.

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Pathology

Dr. Todd Carran talks about the progressive pathophysiology of the brain in greater detail that occurs from mood-altering substances.

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Psychology

Dr. Todd Carran talks about the psychological factors that make people more susceptible to the disease of addiction.

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Consequences

Dr. Todd Carran talks about the medical consequences of addiction and its ability to damage every organ system in the body.

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Smoking

Dr. Todd Carran talks about the correlations between smoking and addictive behaviors and the importance of giving up smoking.

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Brain Imaging

Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), discusses what happens in the human brain from addiction to drugs.

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Brain Disease

Dr. Nora Volkow of the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) presents a seminar on "Addiction as a Brain Disease: What Does it Mean?"

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As A Disease

Dr. McCauley presents reasons to consider addiction as a disease, based on the dopamine hypothesis, and how that translates to treatment.

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