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nauseacomaneci t1_j2euo9c wrote

Reply to comment by Swagyolodemon in Will we ever cure addiction? by 4ucklehead

Genetic predisposition is only one aspect of addiction. There are still psychological & sociological risk factors that need to be taken into account if we want to "cure" it, though I am not convinced that "curing" addiction is what the goal should be as the language of a cure belies the necessity to raise people's social circumstances, which isn't as sexy as, say, a genetic intervention that doesn't require us to question the allocation of resources & services under capitalism.

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Swagyolodemon t1_j2evhdd wrote

I’m not talking about genetic predisposition (albeit certainly a factor). When you take a physically addicting drug it can cause alterations of genetic expression. In other words, your body will uptick, or reduce, the number of various receptors within the nervous system. This same effect is what causes withdrawal. Some drugs are physically addicting because they cause physiological alterations in the nervous system’s reward complex.

Genetic predisposition and narcotic alteration of genetic expression are two different concepts.

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nauseacomaneci t1_j2ey7qy wrote

Thanks for explaining this! I will look into this more as my research only looks at genetics in terms of their role in predisposition rather than expression. Interesting!

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