Addiction to Video Games Is Just Like Drug Addiction

Being addicted to love can be extremely real. In fact, many obsessions such as the one some people have for sex, food or video games act just like drug addictions. You may have noticed some similarities between them, but the reactions taking place in the brain of the people addicted to gambling or video games are similar to those encountered in the brains of the alcoholics and cannabis addicted people.

Parents may helplessly witness how their children change habits becoming, from a normal kid, a miserable, withdrawn person, skipping school, being always angry when confronted, and stealing from family and friends to fuel their obsessions. And this personality and behavioral change can last for years. Any difference from a cocaine addict? Read More »

Why Are Women More Prone to Addictions?

We know that testosterone makes men aggressive and muscular, while female hormones turn women into protecting “mothers” but also more vulnerable to addictions. But a new Yale research shows that it’s not all about hormones; genes too are involved in shaping the sex-related behavior and the females’ proneness to addiction could be linked to genes located in the sex chromosomes.

“This is the first time that any behavior has been associated specifically with sex chromosomes independent of gonadal hormones,” the lead author Jennifer Quinn of Yale University told AFP.

Female mammals (including women) are known for long to be more likely than males to get habit-forming behavior, including addiction. Sex-specific hormones, secreted by gonads, explain just partially the difference. Read More »