Centerpiece
ResourcesWhat is Addiction?
Total Running Time: 20 min. (All three chapters)
In an informal therapy group, Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of NIDA, discusses addiction
as a brain disease with addicts and family members. She notes the environmental,
behavioral and genetic factors that can make an individual vulnerable to addiction
and how the disease leads to abnormal behavior. Additionally, Volkow uses brain
imaging to illustrate how drugs and alcohol physically alter the brain, which is
important in understanding addiction.
Addicts are incorporated into this program as they share their difficult struggles with
the disease.
