Neuroscience-based Framework for Addiction Diagnosis
According to first author Laura Kwako from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in Bethesda, Maryland, although treatment options exist, capitalizing on the burgeoning knowledge of the neurobiological origins of addiction could help find treatments that address the diversity within the addiction diagnosis. The ANA is an effort to meet the need for a neuroscience-based framework for diagnosis which the researchers hope will advance understanding of how addictive disorders emerge and how to classify them.. Past efforts have been made to categorize addictive disorders based on the substance of abuse, for example, alcohol versus cocaine. But differences and similarities between addictions are not constrained by the type of drug. In the review, the researchers propose a dimensional framework, incorporating behavioral measures with brain imaging and genetic data. "It is evident that the current diagnostic categories are broad and encompass enormous clinical heter...