Videogame addiction – fact or fantasy?
I am a Warcraft widow, an affectionate term given to those who have “lost” a partner to World of Warcraft (WoW) as a result of excessive game-playing.
I have first-hand experience of the way games such…
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Addiction
Analysis and Comment (9)
Gambling reform involves more than just popping a pill
The Greens yesterday released the party’s problem gambling discussion paper. The paper advocates, among other things, for general practitioners to play a greater role in screening and treating problem…
Brain abnormalities pre-date pot smoking in heavy users
Cannabis remains the most commonly consumed illicit drug in the world, with more than a third of Australians reporting that they have used it at some point in their lives.
This is despite growing evidence…
Brain’s addiction: is shooting up a disease or a choice?
Welcome to part four of On the brain, a Conversation series by people whose job it is to know as much as there is to know about the body’s most complex organ. Here, Neil Levy, Head of Neuroethics at Florey…
Brain’s addiction: what makes heavy drug users different?
Welcome to part three of On the brain, a Conversation series by people whose job it is to know as much as there is to know about the body’s most complex organ. Here, Professor Andrew J. Lawrence, the Florey…
Want to curb problem gambling? Make pokies harder to play
GAMBLING IN AUSTRALIA – Addiction to gaming machines (or “pokies”) is of growing concern in Australian society. In Victoria alone there are 30,000 of these hi-tech poker machines with many in suburban…
Get rich or die trying: when gambling becomes a problem
GAMBLING IN AUSTRALIA – Why do some people develop gambling addictions while others can dabble for years at the pokies or the track without issue?
The Productivity Commission’s 2010 report on gambling…
Don’t get worked up: you can beat your porn addiction … if you want to
There are several myths regarding what constitutes “porn addiction”.
Some argue that, like alcohol problems, porn addiction is a disease. Once trapped, the consumer of porn will hit rock bottom with no…
E-cigarettes aren’t a solution — they’re part of the problem
On a recent long-haul flight, with very limited movie options, I watched the Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp movie The Tourist (two thumbs firmly down).
A particular scene on a train to Venice did catch…
Research and News (3)
Wilkie gives reluctant support to weaker pokie reforms
Watered-down poker machine reforms designed to protect problem gamblers will go ahead after Tasmanian Independent MP Andrew…
Dead keen for a smoke: puffing on with lung and colorectal cancer
About one in seven people diagnosed with lung cancer report that they keep smoking, as do one in 11 colorectal cancer patients…
Almost 75% support gambling pre-commitment rules: poll
Nearly three quarters of those surveyed in a new poll support gambling pre-commitment rules, a policy the Australian government…
Research Briefs (4)
Trigger for withdrawal symptoms identified
Users of heroin and other addictive opioids may be spared from distressing withdrawal symptoms in the future thanks to a…
Pain patients addicted to opioids
Patients being treated for chronic pain show an unusually high level of addiction to prescription pain medication, according…
Controlling reward-seeking behaviour
Targeting the pathway between two critical brain regions may provide potential treatments for addiction and other neuropsychiatric…
Once a pleasure, always a pleasure?
In research that may have major implications for understanding drug addiction, it has been shown that objects once associated…