To begin to do that you would need to prove what causes addiction. While there are many thoughts and ideas regarding why some people develop addictions and others do not – I couldn’t find any definitive study or proof. They just don’t know – and I think it might be quite a while before anyone does.

According to Dr. Rick Sponaugle (Board Certified in Addiction Medicine and Anesthesiology) patients utilize drugs and alcohol either to stimulate under-active brain regions or relax over-active brain systems. In fact, he further goes on to state that over ninety percent of addicted patients self-medicate with drugs and alcohol in their attempt to balance their brain chemistry and “feel more normal”. The neurochemical dysfunction in addic­tions is a chemical deficiency in pathways of the brain.

I remember when I went to the doctor in the first place, after the gastric bypass surgery. I was having symptoms of anxiety, rapid heartbeat, insomnia and a general feeling of something not being right. I was prescribed an anti-depressant and a benzodiazapene. That was the start for me. What was it that triggered the alcoholism/addiction in all of the other post-gastric bypass patients, who had no previous history of substance abuse?

Many researchers have many different theories from ones such as I’ve mentioned above to hereditary theories, to emotional theories, and psychological theories. But today, they are all just that, theories.

Recently, researchers were surprised with the findings of an important study, the largest clinical trial ever conducted of pharmacologic and behavioral treatments for alcohol dependence, and found that while treatment with medication (Naltrexone) was effective in its own right, combining it with the specialized counseling added no more effectiveness than the medication by itself – according to the author of the study, Raymond Anton. Patients were more successful at sobriety by treating their brain with the medication than with the behavioral treatments.

It is estimated that alcoholism and addiction are in the 30% range after gastric bypass surgery compared to approximately 15% in the American population at large. Why? That just shouldn’t be expected?

This would seem to be an opportunity for addiction specialists and researchers to identify a possible explanation for alcoholism, in some situations. Here is a unique population of people, many who have not had substance abuse problems prior to the surgery, then after the surgery -boom- become an alcoholic. Instead of just labelling it “cross transfer addiction”, why not use this unique phenomenon to investigate why people become alcoholics?

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“Effect of Combined Pharmacotherapies and Behavioral Interventions for Alcohol Dependence” appears in the May 2, 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/295/17/2003.full.pdf+html?sid=b13586e4-ba2a-4110-a49f-3592801cea8f

http://www.worldhealth.net/news/anti-aging_longevity_medicine_reduces_th/