Researchers Find Biological Link Between Mental Illness and Drug Addiction

Could there be a link between drug addiction, addictions, and mental illness? They're found existing in the same person in surprisingly high numbers. Researchers now believe that a link does infact, exist. At least they believe that the same thing causes both drug addiction and mental illness. They announced their findings in a recent press release.

The human brain has a walnut-shaped emotional control center. Its name? The amygdala. The Amygdala influences our emotions - whether that's anxiety, fear, happiness, or anything else.

During their research process, researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine determined that there was indeed, a common element that factored in to mental illness and addictions. It was the amygdala.

Through their research, they have ascertained when the amygdala suffers some type of harm, it seems to disrupt the normal development of the amygdala. As the person with this disruption ages, these subtle changes make them more susceptible to addictions.

This is a fairly radical discovery, because many researchers have believed that it is the addiction that causes chemical changes to one's body. Instead, researchers theorize that subtle environmental factors and genetic changes alter how the amygdala responds, which leads to drug dependency.

Additionally, those people who are predisposed to have a variety of mental illnesses are more at risk for having suffered these changes in their amygdala, thus making them prime candidates to also develop addiction problems.

Researchers believe that a variety of different factors can affect the development of the amagydala. Some of these factors include early brain injuries, epilepsy, or perhaps even very complicated genetic reactions and environmental factors that influence the brain during adolescence, or perhaps even as early as childhood.

Scientists report that the number of people who have a mental illness and also have an addiction is high. It's estimated that somewhere between four to eight of every 10 people who are inflicted with the mental diseases, antisocial personality, bipolar, or schizophrenia, also battle addictions.

Further, it is also estimated that for every 10 people who are depressed or anxious, two to five of them also suffer with addictions.

Researchers at the Indiana University Medical School conducted various studies and experiments on rats to observe their amygdala. Some rats were allowed to develop normally, while the amagydala was damaged in other rats.

Other than this change, all of the rats were raised in identical environments. Researchers discovered distinct changes in how the rats with the damaged amygdalas responded to threatening stimuli. They displayed significantly less caution when a predator was around, continued to socialize, and they were far more sensitive to cocaine even though they had only been exposed to it one time.

Researchers hope that this study will help pave the way for additional research into the varied reasons that so many people who have mental illnesses also struggle with addictions. It may also lead to new forms of treatment.

The study has been published in a publication of the American Psychological Association, Behavioral Neuroscience.

Source:
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/535658/