AddictionNews is a new resource covering the fields of addiction science, addiction studies, and addiction treatment. This includes the many healthcare professionals, psychologists and physicians working to better understand addiction and the many therapies used to treat it. And it is a resource for anyone trying to understand how addiction works and what therapies appear effective.

AddictionNews is a vital clearinghouse for information regarding addiction studies and addiction science. Each day, we will explore a new resource in-depth, adding to a growing library of articles, reviews and resources for professionals and the public.

Subjects covered in AddictionNews include food addiction, eating addiction, drug addiction, alcohol addiction, gambling addiction, sex addiction, pornography addiction, obsessive/compulsive behaviors, nail biting, hair pulling, and self-injury.

“It is possible to imagine a universal cause for addictive behavior across many conditions and compulsions,” writes Dr. Robert A. Pretlow, the publisher of AddictionNews, in the opening line of his recent peer-reviewed paper, “A Unified Theory of Addiction,” in which the author points to displacement as a common ingredient in all addictive behavior.

Dr. Pretlow is a board-certified pediatrician and a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and a well-known researcher in childhood obesity. He is also an electrical engineer and the creator of the BrainWeighve behavior modification app for weight management currently in trials at UCLA.

Dr. Pretlow is the author of the book Overweight: What Kids Say, which is based on a multi-decade effort to collect anonymous reports from teenagers about their struggles with weight and weight loss. This research led to his award-winning website, Childhood Obesity News, the model for AddictionNews, with original reporting on childhood obesity issues, causes and therapies.

Dr. Pretlow’s work has demonstrated that addiction starts in the brain and cannot be adequately treated without addressing the stress that is being displaced through addictive behavior. AddictionNews will examine all the breaking science in the fields of addiction and stress management with an eye toward understanding the mechanism of addiction and recovery.

Written by Steve O’Keefe. Published November 15, 2023.

Sources:

“A Unified Theory of Addiction,” March 9, 2023, Qeios ID: WSGEQ1.5, Open Access

“Overweight: What Kids Say: What’s Really Causing the Childhood Obesity Epidemic,” eHealth International, 2010, ISBN 978-1450534390

Image Copyright: peopleimages12, used with permission.