For years, addiction was seen as a matter of personal failure—a bad habit or a lack of discipline. People believed those who struggled with substance abuse could stop if they simply wanted to. But ...

Much of the conversation around addiction swings between two worldviews. On one side is the belief that addiction is a brain disease, that the addicted person’s brain compels them to continuously use ...

Addiction is a condition that has long baffled physicians and philosophers, to say nothing of those struggling with it and those around them. People have long debated whether addiction is a habit or a ...

Mental health experts are nearly unanimous in endorsing the disease model of addiction. Alcoholism (now alcohol use disorder) was declared a disease in 1956 by the American Medical Association, and ...

The ‘gray area’ of addiction.

Prescription weight loss drugs have been lauded as the miracle drug for treating diabetes and obesity, but new research suggests that these drugs, known as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) ...

Eric Gaier, MD, PhD, and Dean Eliott, MD, of the Department of Ophthalmology at Mass Eye and Ear, a member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, are co-authors of a paper published in ...

Classifying addiction as a disease can allow for better outcomes for patients. Classifying addiction as a disease can allow for better outcomes for patients. James Murphy, MD, discusses the treatment ...