Scientists have discovered that addictions may be hereditary. A team from Britain’s University of Cambridge found that siblings of drug addicts share the same brain abnormalities as their drug-using brothers and sisters. The research team said these abnormal brain structures are linked to poor self-control and drug dependence. The researchers suggest that addiction is in some ways a “disorder of the brain”. This may provide important new ways into helping people with problems of self-control when it comes to addictions. The study sought to find out if drugs changed the “wiring” of the brain or whether the brains of drug addicts were wired differently from birth.
科學家發(fā)現(xiàn)成癮或與遺傳有關。來自英國劍橋大學的研究小組發(fā)現(xiàn),在吸毒成癮的兄弟姐妹中,其腦部都出現(xiàn)了異常情況。研究小組稱自控能力差,毒品依賴性強都與腦部結構反常有關。研究人員認為從某種意義上來說,成癮其實是一種“腦部疾病”。這一發(fā)現(xiàn)或許會對解決因毒品而產(chǎn)生的自控問題尋求辦法。是毒品改變了腦部結構,還是因為成癮者的腦部結構天生不同,這一研究試圖尋找這一答案。
Lead researcher Dr Karen Ersche told the BBC: “It has long been known that not everyone who takes drugs becomes addicted.” She continued: “It shows that drug addiction is not a choice of lifestyle, it is a disorder of the brain and we need to recognise this. These brothers and sisters who don't have addiction problems, what they can tell us is how they overcome these problems, how they manage self-control in their daily life.” Dr Ersche and her colleagues studied 50 pairs of siblings, one with a history of drug addiction and one with no experience of taking drugs. She compared these with 50 healthy people. She concluded: “We need to find out how these non-addicted siblings were able to resist using drugs.”
研究主任凱倫·司啟爾博士對BBC稱:“并不是所有吸毒患者都會成癮,這個我們早已知曉。”她還稱:“該研究證明毒品成癮并不是生活方式的選擇,我們需要認識到的是這是一種“腦部疾病”。對于那些沒有成癮問題的兄弟姐妹,他們能夠為我們講述戰(zhàn)勝困難,戰(zhàn)勝自控力的方法。”司啟爾博士和她的同事對50對兄弟姐妹進行了研究,一些擁有成癮史,一些沒有吸食過毒品。并與50名健康人士進行比較。她總結道:“我們需要對那些不成癮,并能夠自我克制的兄弟姐妹進行研究。”