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Natural rewards, neuroplasticity, and non-drug addictions
Open accessAbstract
There is a high degree of overlap between brain regions involved in processing natural rewards and drugs of abuse. "Non-drug" or "behavioral" addictions have become increasingly documented in the clinic, and pathologies include compulsive activities such as shopping, eating, exercising, sexual behavior, and gambling. Like drug addiction, non-drug addictions manifest in symptoms including craving, impaired control over the behavior, tolerance, withdrawal, and high rates of relapse. These alterations in behavior suggest that plasticity may be occurring in brain regions associated with drug addiction. In this review, I summarize data demonstrating that exposure to non-drug rewards can alter neural plasticity in regions of the brain that are affected by drugs of abuse. Research suggests that there are several similarities between neuroplasticity induced by natural and drug rewards and that, depending on the reward, repeated exposure to natural rewards might induce neuroplasticity that either promotes or counteracts addictive behavior.
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“However, so-called behavioral addictions are associated with supraphysiological stimulation and plasticity within regions of the brain that also show these effects in response to addictive drugs, (Olsen, 2011), (Section 3.4).”
From A motivation model of sex addiction – Relevance to the controversy over the concept (2022) · cites this paper as Olsen, 2011
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Metadata
- Authors
- Olsen, C. M.
- Affiliations
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Olsen, Christopher M.
- Venue
- Neuropharmacology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2011-12
- Volume
- 61
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1109-1122
- ISSN
- 0028-3908 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3139704
- OpenAlex
- W2045365443
- Cited by
- 339
- References
- 354
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 64 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 20 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 33 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 1.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Neuropharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (R00DA026994, DA026994, K99DA026994)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Gambling Behavior and Treatments
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural and Behavioral Psychology Studies
- Keywords
- behavioral addiction, natural reward, neuroplasticity, drug addiction, reward processing, compulsive behavior, craving, relapse, gambling addiction, food addiction, sexual addiction, exercise addiction, compulsive buying, tolerance and withdrawal
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Brain, Exploratory Behavior, Food, Humans, Neuronal Plasticity, Neurons, Reinforcement, Psychology, Reward, Sexual Behavior, Sexual Behavior, Animal, Exercise, Behavior, Addictive
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