Symptoms of Addiction: Incorporating the New Brain Science
Feature Articles - Mental Health
Written by Terence T. Gorski   
Wednesday, 02 January 2008
Over the last two decades, addiction professionals have learned a great deal about the progressive symptoms of alcohol and drug addiction.

Up until this time, the Jellinek Chart, a useful graphic representation of the symptoms of Gamma Alcoholism, developed by Dr. Glatt, and originally published in the British Journal of Addiction. Although much of the recent research supports the Jellinek symptoms of addiction, the new biopsychosocial research gives us a new perspective on the progressive symptoms of addiction. This new perspective is useful in prevention, the treatment of adolescents, and early identification programs for adults. Given the advances made in understanding addiction as a brain disease with biopsychosocial symptoms, gives us the opportunity to create a new and improved symptom list for teaching our clients and family members to understand and recognize the symptoms of addiction. The following symptoms support the science-based understanding that addiction is a biopsychosocial brain disease. The symptom list, however, is presented in clear and easy to understand language so it can easily be used as a teaching or recovery tool.

The symptom list below was developed from two sources: (1) a comprehensive review of published neuropsychological symptoms of addiction; and (2) informal focus groups with recovering alcoholics and addicts, who helped provide simplified language to describe these new symptoms. I hope these symptoms will prove to be a useful tool in teaching recovering people and their families about the progressive symptoms of addiction to alcohol and other drugs.



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