Internet is the new cocaine. A new brain scan study found that not only can the internet be addicting, but it can also cause similar brain changes that occur with alcoholics and drug addicts.

Researchers compared brain scans of 17 men and women who were diagnosed with internet addiction disorder with the brain scans of 17 people who were not addicted to surfing the web. CBS notes that participants in the study were between the ages of 14 and 21 and lived in China.

The report, which was published in the Jan. 11 issue of PLoS One, said that the researchers found more “abnormal white matter” in the internet addicted individuals. Previous studies have found similar changes in “white matter” in people who are addicted to alcohol, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and meth.

According to the report, the abnormal white matter can disrupt pathways in the brain related to self control and decision making.

The report reads:

“The results suggest that IAD may share psychological and neural mechanisms with other types of substance addiction and impulse control disorders.”

Other studies have shown that people addicted to video games also suffer similar symptoms. Dr. Henrietta Bowden Jones, a psychiatric who runs a clinic for Internet addicts at the Imperial College in London, told CBS:

“The majority of people we see with serious Internet addiction are gamers – people who spend long hours in roles in various games that cause them to disregard their obligations. I have seen people who stopped attending university lectures, failed their degrees or their marriages broke down because they were unable to emotionally connect with anything outside the game.”

How long have you been on the internet today? Maybe it’s time you took a break.

Internet, It’s a Helluva Drug: Internet Addiction Has Same Effect as Cocaine on Brain is a post from: The Inquisitr

We’ve all been there. A spouse pisses us off. We shout at them. They shout at us. We put them up for auction on the Internet.

A Utah wife, for example, recently put her husband up for sale on Craigslist. His crime? Becoming addicted to Modern Warfare 3. The Xbox widow’s ad pulls the hard sell, pointing out her husband only needs food and water every few hours:

“I am selling my 22 year old husband. He enjoys eating and playing video games all day. Easy to maintain, just feed and water every 3-5 hours. You must have Internet and space for gaming. Got tired of waiting so free to good home. If acceptable replacement is offered will trade.”

Alyse Bradley says she posted the ad after her partner recently indulged in a 48-hour long gaming stretch (at once?! Surely an exaggeration). She says it left her feeling alone and ignored by the recently discharged military veteran.

Alas, she also says it was all a “joke”! Booo! Rubbish! But that’s not to say she hasn’t had a few replies, including from some opportunistic males:

“I’ve had a couple personal ads from men saying, ‘Oh I’m housebroke, I’m trained, I’ll trade him places.’”

For his part, up-for-sale husband Joseph Baddley admitted his obsession with the game “is not normal,” but said the game helped him stay connected with friends from the military. Just not his wife.

Wife Sells Husband on Craigslist is a post from: The Inquisitr

Researchers at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health believe they have found a possible link between the heavy use of methamphetamines and schizophrenia.

Using hospital records obtained from 1990 through 2000 at a California hospital researchers compared results from drug users to a control group of non-drug users to determine the direct effects meth use has on the mental condition. Researchers studied the records of each patients for up to 10 years from the time of their initial hospital visit.

According to the study’s co-author Russell Callaghan meth users who did not have psychotic symptoms at the start of the study period were 1.5 to 3.0 times more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia at a later time if meth addiction was discovered.

The study examined 42,412 meth users and was published on Tuesday in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Dr. Stephen Kish, head of CAMH’s Human Brain Laboratory told the CBC:

“We really do not understand how these drugs might increase schizophrenia risk,”

“Perhaps repeated use of methamphetamine and cannabis in some susceptible individuals can trigger latent schizophrenia by sensitizing the brain to dopamine, a brain chemical thought to be associated with psychosis.”

While a link appears to be prevalent researchers conducting the study were quick to point out that more studies are needed.

The study is important because Meth and other amphetamine-type stimulants are thought to be the second most widely used class of illegal drugs in the world.

Given what the drug has been shown to do with human brains I’m not surprised by the findings. Do the new research studies results surprise you?

[Images via ShutterStock.com]

Heavy Meth Use Linked To Schizophrenia is a post from: The Inquisitr

Former WWE Star Tyson Tomko was arrested in Florida on Monday after he was caught injecting stolen pain medicine while hiding out in a Chili’s restaurant bathroom.

Tomko, a wrestler from 2002 through 2009 has been accused of robbing a CVS Pharmacy on October 10th after he threatened to attack the pharmacist if they didn’t hand over several bottles of the prescription narcotic Oxycodone.

According to the pharmacist Tomko made off with 210 tablets of the drug. After stealing the prescription pills Tomko asked a Chili’s server for a spoon, when she return he asked for a “deeper” spoon and then headed into the bathroom for 30 to 40 minutes.

When restaurant staff realized that something was wrong local police were tipped off and found Tomko in the bathroom with ”needle marks and blood running down his arm”

According to the official police report Tomko was flushing something down the toilet when police arrived in the restroom bathroom.

After being taken into custody Tomko told police he had a “severe drug problem.”

Before being apprehended police say he crushed up and melted down 178 pills which he then injected into his body. Tomoko is adamant in his claim that he never threatened the pharmacist.

After being taken to a local hospital for observation Tomko was booked for robbery and his bond was set at $7,500.

Given the dependence on pain killers that many professional athletes rely on does it surprise you that a 7-year veteran of the WWE developed an addiction to powerful pain medications such as Oxycodone?

Former WWE Star Tyson Tomko Robs CVS Pharmacy, Shoots Up In Chili’s Bathroom is a post from: The Inquisitr

Fighting addiction can be a life long battle for many people, sometimes resulting in death or bodily harm but researchers hope to end addition battles with a new round of addiction vaccines.

Dr. Kim D. Janda, a professor at the Scripps Research Institute tells the NY Times:

“We view this as an alternative or better way for some people,” and “Just like with nicotine patches and the gum, all those things are just systems to get people off the drugs.”

Just like vaccines for small pox, hep B and other diseases the drugs will work by producing antibodies that shut down the narcotic before it can take root in the body or brain, thus mitigating the “high” that the body feels from using the drug and rendering it useless.

Researchers hope that unlike preventative vaccines the new round can be used after the addiction has already taken hold of a person, thus helping stop addiction after it starts.

In one of Dr. Janda’s tests cocaine users who took his vaccine felt like they were receiving “dirty coke” and therefore they felt as if buying more product was a waste of money.

Dr. Janda and his 25-person research team made headlines recently when they announced that a vaccine they created stopped the effects of heroin in rats.

Not all research into drug dulling vaccines have been a success, Janda’s Phase 2 clinical trial for a nicotine vaccine showed no added help over a placebo, however his ‘hard drug’ studies appear to be moving in the right direction.

While there is still a lot of work to be accomplished more money is being put into vaccine and drug research to stop addiction which means it’s only a matter of time before research teams begin announcing major breakthroughs in drug addiction.

Addiction Vaccines May Be Closer Than We Think Says Researchers is a post from: The Inquisitr

If this does actually pan out it could be the best thing to happen in a long time when it comes to dealing with heroin addiction, which has returned to being in vogue in recent years.

When it comes to trying to deal with heroin addiction in this fashion the problem has always been the way that the drug breaks down in the human body. It is that breakdown that is what actually gets people high but it means that a targeted approach won’t work.

Which is why these researches attacked the problem from another direction. Rather than a single drug to attack the “heroin high” they created what they call a “dynamic” vaccine which is in fact a cocktail of several different vaccines.

The idea is that each of the individual vaccines that make up the cocktail; or master vaccine, attacks each of the parts of the drug as it breaks down.

One injection helps your body to create antibodies to protect against heroin itself, the chemical that heroin degrades into (6-acetylmorphine or 6AM), and morphine. So far, this approach looks to be very effective: among a group of heroin-addicted rats, more than 50% of them showed absolutely no interest in heroin after receiving the vaccine.

via DVICE

Here is the video of the researcher at Scripps Research talking about the vaccine.

Heroin addiction? There’s a vaccine for that. [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

The ground breaking article from the NY Times, “Rethinking Addiction’s Roots, and Its Treatment” finally gets it right. After years, if not decades, of blaming the victims of drug addiction, this refreshing and important article makes the bold statement that addiction is disease. By saying addiction is much the same as diabetes or a thyroid condition, new possibilities are opened up for the treatment of addiction. This change in attitude allows medical professionals to develop sound, medically based treatment modalities and just as importantly, opens the door for insurance policies to pay for treatment.

The past history of addiction treatment put a heavy focus on psychiatry and paid little, if any attention to the possibility of the underlying physical or genetic causes of addiction. Even when patients had a long term, multi generational history of addiction in their families, specialists treated this as offhand information and continued to emphasize psychotherapy as the primary method of treatment. “In the past, the specialty was very much targeted toward psychiatrists,” said Nora D. Volkow, the neuroscientist in charge of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “It’s a gap in our training program.” She called the lack of substance-abuse education among general practitioners “a very serious problem.”

As pointed out in the Times article, new treatments are being developed. One very encouraging step is the first accredited residency program in addiction medicine started by 10 prominent medical institutions including St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York, the University of Maryland Medical System, the University at Buffalo School of Medicine, the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, the University of Minnesota Medical School, the University of Florida College of Medicine, the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii, the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Marworth and Boston University Medical Center. Designed for doctors who have completed medical school, they will be able to spend a one year residency studying the relationship between addiction and brain chemistry.

“This is a first step toward bringing recognition, respectability and rigor to addiction medicine,” said David Withers, who oversees the new residency program at the Marworth Alcohol and Chemical Dependency Treatment Center in Waverly, Pa.

The new program will treat patients with addictions to alcohol, drugs, prescription medicines and nicotine. Starting July 1, 2011 with 20 students at the various institutions, the doctors will study brain chemistry and the important role of heredity.

The change in the thinking about addiction has been a gradual process that has taken place over the last two decades. The catalyst was when researchers using high-resonance imaging began to notice actual physical changes occurring in the brains of addicts. Once this was understood, many forward looking professionals began to realize that the treatment of addiction required an ongoing medical program. Much like the way diabetes treatment requires continuing medication and regular medical care, addiction specialists have begun to develop treatment programs for the long term care of the addict. It is now realized that there is more to successfully treating addiction than 28 days in a detox and will power.

One of the most successful treatments for opiate addiction has been long term methadone maintenance. While many of the traditionalists in addiction treatment complain that methadone just replaces one addiction with another, advocates point out that methadone has enabled many of its users to lead productive lives while preventing the use of illegal drugs or the abuse of prescription drugs. Long term methadone treatment has also enabled patients to avoid many of the destructive and often fatal consequences of drug addiction including further exposure to aids and the risk of death due to overdose.

Another promising new treatment for opiate addiction is Buprenorphine which is marketed under the name Suboxone. Buprenorphine is used to ease patients withdrawal symptoms from opiate detoxification. Buprenorphine binds more strongly to receptors in the brain than do other opioids, making it more difficult for opioids (or opiates) to react when buprenorphine is in the system. This makes the drug useful for long term use in the treatment of addiction as an alternative to methadone.

Many other promising new drugs are being developed to treat a range of addictions including opiates, alcohol, cocaine, methamphetamine and nicotine. As the focus evolves towards a fuller understanding that addiction is a physical disease and not a reflection on the personality of the addict, new hope is to be found among medical professionals and addicts alike. As stated in the NY Times article by Derek Anderson, 53, who credits Suboxone and the medical doctor who diagnosed his addiction with helping him kick his 35-year heroin habit.  “I used to go to detoxes and go back and forth and back and forth,” he said. But the Suboxone “got me to where I don’t have the dependency every day, consuming you, swallowing you like a fish in water. I’m able to work now, I’m able to take care of my daughter, I’m able to pay rent — all the things I couldn’t do when I was using.”

Guest post by Wolff Bachner

Addiction Treatment: A New Way To Look At An Old Problem is a post from: The Inquisitr

Data collected from two previous studies suggests children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are far more likely to become dependent on certain substances, including alcohol, cigarettes and drugs.

The studies revealed that kids with ADHD were one and a half times more likely to develop substance dependent behaviors, and a third of the children in the study eventually exhibited the substance issues. 268 children were studied- one study dealt with girls with ADHD, and the other measured boys who had the condition.

Dr. Timothy Wilens, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, commented on the study in a news release:

“Our study, which is one of the largest set of longitudinal studies of this issue to date, supports the association between ADHD and substance abuse found in several earlier studies and shows that the increased risk cannot be accounted for by co-existing factors such as other psychiatric disorders or family history of substance abuse.”

Family history and gender did not impact the results, but the presence of a “conduct disorder” did. Only a quarter of the kids who did not have conduct disorders developed substance abuse issues, versus the third who were diagnosed with ADHD as children.

Study: Kids With ADHD More Likely to Develop Substance Abuse Problems is a post from: The Inquisitr

Personally I don’t get the whole angry Birds thing but then I don’t get doing crack either but for those of you who have succumbed to the Angry Birds addiction Mike Tyson is offering to help you get over it.

via Geeks Are Sexy and Buzzfeed

Mike Tyson can help you beat that Angry Birds addiction is a post from: The Inquisitr

Clever girl.

[Furious Fanboys, via Digg]

Girl gives boy World of Warcraft: Cataclysm … but there’s a catch is a post from: The Inquisitr

You know you play too much Call of Duty when …

[Via The Daily What]

Customers who buy Call of Duty 4 also bought … is a post from: The Inquisitr

So long, Goldie. Wherever your fishy soul is heading, here’s hoping it has the fish flakes StealthEngy forgot to feed you because he was too damn busy Zerg rushing. RIP.

See also: Dude gets weepy after queuing 24 hours for StarCraft II

[Via Geekologie]

The grave consequences of too much StarCraft II … is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s almost given. Give a human being something new to play with and chances are they will get carried away and pour all their attention into that thing. This is why we have things like sports fans or news junkies. Pick anything and chances are you find one or more people who become totally involved – some even obsessively.

There are some who say that we are becoming to obsessed – even addicted to the Internet. At the same time we have others who believe that it is a good thing that our world is becoming even more interconnected because of the Web.

Talk about two totally differing points of view when it comes to what is very quickly becoming an integral part of our lives and society. On one hand we are being told that we need to become even more connected and then on the other we have those who would have us believe we are too connected – dangerously so .. or as Stowe Boyd called it today The War on Flow.

Retrevo published some interesting statistics from a study on social media use, but unfortunately refer to those who are most connected as being ‘addicted’. [via email]

[....]

So, the presumption is that we shouldn’t do these things, and by doing them we are participating in a pattern of behavior that is immoral, immature, or at best questionable. This is, once again, the War On Flow, where various arbiters of public morality will point their fingers and call us names.

[....]

I am completely opposed to this sanctimonious, pseudo-moralistic mumbo jumbo.

They will consistently devalue the actions that keep us connected — taking the text message, responding to the tweets — and they rate our behavior based on the context we are in when the message is responded to, but not the level of our connection with the person at the other end of the relationship. It’s all form and no substance.

Somehow I’m not at all surprised by this split personality we have when it comes to the Web and Technology.

Which is it – Internet addiction or global connectivity? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Eminem, who came under fire in the early 00s for homophobic lyrics, is being helped off drugs by out and proud Sir Elton John, John told the BBC.

Elton didn’t disclose the details of Eminem’s addiction, but the rapper- who has a tattoo of Vicodin- revealed dependency on Valium, Vicodin and Ambien to Vibe magazine in an interview after his 2005 stint in rehab:

“It’s no secret I had a drug problem,” he later told Vibe magazine.

“If I was to give you a number of Vicodin I would actually take in a day? Anywhere between 10 to 20. Valium, Ambien, the numbers got so high I don’t even know what I was taking.”

Elton John says he’s helping Eminem kick drugs is a post from: The Inquisitr

Don’t ever accuse me of not bringing you the hardest-hitting gaming news out there, reader.

According to the Daily Telegraph, slightly whingey, snaggle-toothed Scottish tennis star Andy Murray has been given the boot by girlfriend Kim Sears over the amount of time he spends on his PlayStation 3 each day. *Sniff* I’m so proud of you, Andy.

The culprit game? Well, it’s Modern Warfare 2, isn’t it. Surprised you need to ask really. Does anybody out there play anything else nowadays? Anyway, here’s what a “source” told the paper:

“One of the causes was the world number four’s long hours playing video tennis and PlayStation 3 games such as the best selling Call of Duty sequel.”

According to former coach Brad Gilbert, Murray regularly plays games for seven hours a day. Apparently, that’s not “normal.” Pffft.

[Daily Telegraph, via CVG]

Tennis star Andy Murray dumped over PlayStation 3 addiction is a post from: The Inquisitr

Tara Reid has checked herself into rehab. The Promises Treatment Centre in Malibu California. Apparently its the in place to do your rehab if you are a Hollywood starlet or in this case wannabe.

Reid’s representative Jack Ketsoyan confirmed the actress’s stay at Promises. “We appreciate your respect to her and her family’s privacy at this time,” Ketsoyan told People.

A friend of the actress says she headed to the treatment facility on Tuesday. “Her friends and family are supportive of her decision,” says the friend. “She checked in herself – it was her decision.”

Their is solid speculation that she has checked herself in after finally admitting she has a problem with alcohol.

She told People magazine only six weeks ago that she was just a social drinker who enjoyed an occasional glass of wine with friends. Clearly back then she lived in a town called Denial. Population. Tara Reid.

We wish Tara all the best for her recovery, and the positive press that these events usually bring.

Tara Reid In Rehab is a post from: The Inquisitr

Amy Winehouse, the trainwreck that nobody can look away from has been interviewed over the intercom, in 6 minutes of cringe worthy entertainment, disguised as journalism.

The Youtube video helpfully has a translation, if you like, don’t understand what Amy is on about.

Quick round up:  she repeatedly says she isn’t drunk, blames Simon Cowell for everything that’s wrong with the world (she might have a point) and offers to bet $100k on the result of the next X Factor vote.  She also proceeds to give what I am sure in her head, sounded like an insightful political commentary on why the alright singers get voted off X factor.

It is also clear that she still loves her husband, talking about his embarrassing taste in music.  When the interviewer asks her if she is getting divorced, she says maybe they should run away together. With the paparazzi flashes going off in the background, you can’t help but feel sorry for her.

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Amy Winehouse Interviewed by Intercom is a post from: The Inquisitr

However it may no longer just the kids that need to be saved from this life sucking gaming world. No, apparently even those of you approaching the “Gramps” stage of life are now in danger of being sucked into the World of Warcraft never to be seen again. In a post by Sara Boesveld and Zosia Belski on the Globe and Mail site write

It’s a growing problem as the age of the average gamer has risen to 32, said Liz Woolley, founder of Online Gamers Anonymous. And because gaming has more social acceptability than alcohol or drugs, most adult addicts don’t realize they have a problem. But it can have a similarly destructive effect on family and relationships.

“People are just sort of living on these things,” said Kimberly Young, director of the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery in Bradford, Pa., adding that most gamers have a family and a good job.

Not even that but did you know that for extreme gamers it’s no different than being a heroin addict. Yup it’s true – at least according to Dr. Young

Dr. Young compares the most extreme gamers with heroin addicts who eventually disengage from work and their relationships.

Dr. Young said it usually takes a “rock bottom experience” such as a divorce, a pink slip or traumatized children to wake up an addict.

So consider yourself warned okay? .. and to you wives out there you’d better hurry up and lock up those consoles and computers. Not only will you be saving your children you’ll now be saving that gaming drugged out husband who is also showing you a lot of strange pictures he’s found on the net and just wanted to share them with you in private.

Yup let’s forget about responsiblity and self control as we all plunge into the depths of gaming addictions. At least you will be able to say the family who games together can rehab together.

We tried telling Gramps that gaming was addictive is a post from: The Inquisitr