A new study that was sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse NIDA) found that addicts that saw images of drugs, such as cocaine, and drug paraphernalia began to have cravings. And what is amazing about this is that the images were only shown for 33 milliseconds–not enough time for the person to be aware that he or she even saw the image. The limbic systems of the addicts became stimulated, which was observed through  fMRI, functional magnetic resonance imaging. This system is deeply involved with emotions, such as pleasure.

What this means is that we understand addiction, cravings and triggers better. Drug rehabs can better prepare their clients for life outside of drug and alcohol treatment. And the addict can at least be aware of one of his or her triggers. In addition to these reason, addicts often cannot figure out what happened to them to cause a craving. This can help them with their recovery.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 14th, 2008 at 10:51 am by marie and is filed under Drug Addiction Recovery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.