addiction

occupation / innovator as

novelist

physicist

nationality

American

science fiction writer

astrophysicist

scientific organization

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Phi Beta Kappa Society

innovator in the field of

astrophysics

is the quintessential biobehavioral disorder: A consequence of observable alteration of the brain caused by continued use of a substance.

It is this intense craving rooted in the brain's acquired need for the substance(s) that created its new composition that is the essence of addiction. From this disease theory of addiction, compulsive substance use is not a moral failing nor a lack of willpower, it is a consequence of observable (using brain imaging techniques like magnetic resonance spectroscopy) alteration of the brain (e.g., changes in brain chemistry and neuron structure and functioning) that is produced by repeated exposures to powerful, quite literally mind-altering, substances like alcohol, heroin, cocaine, or methamphetamine.

Alan Lightman

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Alan LightmanThinkers

Alan Lightman