Title:Elucidating the Role of Trauma and Significant Life Stress in the Disease
of Addiction may Provide New Targets for Medication Development
Volume: 22
Issue: 7
Author(s): Caroline E. Sagrera, Laura Alderman, M. Frances Vest, Nicholas E. Goeders and Kevin S. Murnane*
Affiliation:
- Louisiana Addiction Research Center, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-Shreveport, LA, USA
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Shreveport,
LA, USA
- Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology & Neuroscience, Louisiana State University Health Sciences
Center, Shreveport, LA, USA
Keywords:
Addiction, trauma, stress, reward pathway, dopamine, substance abuse, substance use disorder.
Abstract: The role of previous life stress and trauma in addiction has been understudied and underappreciated.
To date, much previous research has emphasized other aspects of the disease of addiction,
including the reward-based neural circuitry. While previous research has offered tremendous value and
shaped human understanding of addiction, an increased emphasis on the role of stress and trauma in
addiction may provide new targets for therapeutic development. Here, we review both clinical and preclinical
literature in support of the hypothesis that addiction is largely initiated and driven by significant
previous life stressors and traumas. We describe some of the available quantitative molecular in
vitro studies, systematic literature reviews, case-control studies, and cross-sectional studies to summarize
the neurobiology of the reward pathway, the influence of stress-related hormones on the brain, and
the role of childhood trauma in the development of substance abuse. The current perspective highlights
the importance of early intervention during stressful life events for the prevention of future addiction
behavior and suggests that elucidating the neurobiology of these systems may provide new targets for
medication development for addiction.