The Biological Roots of Addiction Research and clinical experience contradict the common assumption that addiction is a self-inflicted condition among moral weaklings who lack character and willpower or who are hopelessly inept people who should be punished. Fourth, it is potentially fatal.
Neuroscientists now regard addiction as a chemical deficiency.
Biologic researchers believe that the compulsion to drink or use other drugs is driven by a neurochemical abnormality in the brain that influences CNS regulation of feeling. According to most treatment experts, people addicted to one mood-altering chemical cannot safely use another. Consequently, the potential for addiction may generalize over all categories of psychoactive drugs. Although there is no evidence that addicts have a common personality profile, an abundance of research shows that addictive behaviors are shaped by behavioral reinforcement. Addicts, like all humans, learn to repeat behaviors that make them feel good or relieve unpleasant feelings.