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The Essential: The Why Factor: Addiction - Why Do Some People Succumb to it?

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Addiction: Why Do Some People Succumb to it?

23/02/2016 GMT

The Why Factor: Addiction - Why Do Some People Succumb to it?

BBC World Service - The Essential, The Why Factor: Addiction - Why Do Some People Succumb to it?

Why does pleasure and desire lead to addiction in some people but not others?

Mike Williams talks to scientists and former addicts to try and discover why pleasure and desire leads to dependency in some people but not others.

Last week we looked at the science of pleasure… the biochemistry of the brain’s reward system.  This week, what happens when that mechanism goes wrong. Addiction. 

How can something that’s start off being pleasurable end up making us feel so low? 

Mike Williams talks to scientists and former addicts in the search for some answers. 

Produced by Ben Carter

(Photo: Collection of different hard drugs Heroin, Pills, Tobacco and Alcohol. Credit to Shutterstock)

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