Understanding Addiction

Hi from Hungary. I’m at a conference on behavioral addictions. Two days of talks by experts — psychologists, neuroscientists, psychiatrists, clinical researchers, etc. — who want to understand behavioral addictions. These include compulsive gambling, eating disorders, hypersexuality or sex addiction, and internet or gaming addiction.  And I am really high on the flood of information, […] (Read the rest.)

Hi again. Last post I argued that the growth of addictive behaviour takes place at several scales. A “real-time” scale of minutes or hours, approximately, and a much slower scale that we can properly call “development” — something that takes place over months or years. And perhaps other scales as well. I realize now, as […] (Read the rest.)

Whenever I take a couple of weeks between postings I start to feel home-sick for my blog. I miss you guys. I miss having something to say to you — something that’s at least a bit thought-provoking and interesting — and I miss your comments. Whether lengthy and rich with content or brief musings, reactions […] (Read the rest.)

This morning I woke up before the rest of my family. We’re in a hotel in Switzerland, on a ski holiday. Switzerland isn’t that far from our home in Holland, but I know that I’m a lucky guy. My life has improved substantially since sitting in a cell in Thunder Bay, Ontario, waiting to get […] (Read the rest.)

In my last post I explored the role of the default mode network in addiction. One conclusion was that addicts’ brains activate the default mode network more than the brains of nonaddicts. This brought us to a paradox. Actually two paradoxes. (My wife hates it when I pun, but a pair o’ ducks already sounds […] (Read the rest.)