Day 3 - Mind and Life XXVII - Craving, Desire and Addiction

Dr Nora Volkow

Dr Vibeke Amussen Frank

You can view the videos here.

The point of this summary is not to replace the complete video and nor is it fully comprehensive, but rather the intention is to give a brief overview of proceedings so as to assist the reader in determining which sessions they would like to watch in full. 

The third day of Mind & Life XXVII - Dr Laura Volkow talks about The Role of Dopamine in the Addicted Human Brain and Dr Vibeke Amussen Frank follows with Beyond the Individual: The Role of Society and Culture in Addiction.

Human Rights Day Speech

Addicts Are Also Human

By Shaun Shelly
This is a speech I delivered at a public function held to celebrate Human Rights Day in South Africa. Addicts are one of the most marginalised groups in society, not even enjoying the right to freedom or medical care:

The Bill of Rights is a cornerstone of democracy in South Africa. It enshrines the rights of all people in our country and affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom.  It places a responsibility on the state to respect, protect, promote and fulfill the rights in the Bill of Rights.

Sex, Drugs, and No Control

Sex as Addiction and the Treatment Thereof

There is much controversy around the use of the term "sex addiction." This article gives a brief overview of the arguments against this term, and then shows some of the aspects as to why sex may indeed be an addiction and how it may be treated. There is certainly a need for further research in this area before anything definitive can be proclaimed, but perhaps the study of behaviours that present as addiction can give us further insight and understanding of exogenous addictions.

PDF Version (Printable)

According to the DSM-V Sex Addiction is not a diagnosable condition. Sexual addiction was mentioned in the DSM-III-R, but disappeared in the DSM-IV, threatened a come-back in the DSM-V but has now been discarded. Sex, however, has long been described as addictive. In the late 1800s Freud described masturbation as the “original addiction.” Rado in the 20’s described addiction as “compulsive” and made the reward/pleasure/sex link. We saw words such as nymphomania (Ellis) and the clumsy “Don Juanism”(Stoller). In the 70’s Mac Dougall spoke of “addictive sexuality”. It was originally proposed that sex be included under the heading of addiction in the DSM-5, and then that was discarded and the idea of hyper-sexuality was introduced as a possibility. Eventually none of these proposals was accepted, and so sexual addiction has ceased to exist, according to the DSM, that is.

Addiction Information January Newsletter

Introduction

Welcome to the first Addiction Information Newsletter. The object of this newsletter is to give you a monthly overview of what is happening in the world of addiction across a number of fields. You can subscribe to this newsletter and receive an e-mail version by joining our mailing list. Your suggestions are most welcome, and articles for the website or that you would like to have linked to this newsletter can be directly submitted to me by e-mailing shaun.shelly@yahoo.com.

In this issue:

The Motivated Addict, Dual-process models, CBT Ineffective?, Drug Policy, Brain Structure, Meth Psychosis, Transcriptional Mechanisms, Nepicastat & 18-MC Trials, Neuroscientist Marc Lewis, Dr Frankenstein's Cure and "beating addiction"

In the Press.....

   

PRISON NO CURE FOR ADDICTION: EXPERT
By simone.williams
2013-01-15 09:00   
HARSH penalties for drug-related crimes do more harm than good.

This is according to Shaun Shelly, Addictions Programme Manager of Hope House Counselling Centre in Military Road, Retreat. In his opinion, the Drug Watch campaign by LeadSA, and editorial comments and letters in the local press seem to all be praising criminal sanctions for drug addicts encouraging harsher penalties. He complains his letters to the press have been ignored by editors.

Treatment not Time:

Addiction is health issue, not a criminal one.

The recent Drug Watch campaign, editorial comments and letters in the local press seem to all be prescribing harsher criminal sanctions for drug addicts. Even the recent special remissions of sentences, granted by the State President, have excluded those convicted of drug related crimes. Even so, I would like to suggest that this approach is both ill-informed and not helpful if we are to make in-roads in dealing with the drug problem that undoubtedly affects our community. We need to base our approach on sound research and not on popular sentiment.