'Insight' deficit may explain denial in drug...( WASHINGTON D.C. Drug abusers are of...),Health

WASHINGTON, D.C. Drug abusers are often characterized as being in "denial" not recognizing the severity of their disorder. Although "denial" is often considered to be a form of deception, emerging research suggests that it may be due to a specific brain dysfunction similar to that observed in other neuropsychiatric illnesses.

Scientists from a variety of fields will present relevant research during a symposium on "Impaired Insight into Illness in Drug Addiction" at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington, D.C., November 16, 2008, 8 a.m. - 11 a.m., Washington Convention Center, Ballroom B. Rita Z. Goldstein, a psychologist who leads the neuropsychoimaging group at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, is chair of this symposium; Steve Grant of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) will co-chair it.

"The more we understand about the brain mechanisms affected by drugs of abuse and that underlie addiction, the better equipped we will be to address its complex and difficult-to-treat symptoms, including relapse triggered by exposure to cues outside of conscious awareness, and altered perceptions of internal responses and cognitive performance," said Nora D. Volkow, Director of NIDA, who will serve as a discussant at the symposium. "This knowledge will lead to the development of more responsive, integrated treatments."

Brookhaven's Goldstein explains the idea of impaired insight and how it might relate to drug addiction: "Patients suffering from mental illnesses such as schizophrenia often have compromised awareness of their own symptoms and the severity of their disorder. This compromise can exacerbate symptoms and reduce responsiveness to or compliance with treatment," she said. This "insight deficit" appears to originate from impairments in many of the same brain regions that underlie addiction symptoms such as continued drug use despite catastrophic consequences, even when the dru
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