新奇事件簿 成瘾或具有遗传性（在线收听）

Scientists have discovered that addictions may be hereditary. A team from Britain’s University of Cambridge found that siblings of drug addicts share the same brain abnormalities as their drug-using brothers and sisters. The research team said these abnormal brain structures are linked to poor self-control and drug dependence. The researchers suggest that addiction is in some ways a “disorder of the brain”. This may provide important new ways into helping people with problems of self-control when it comes to addictions. The study sought to find out if drugs changed the “wiring” of the brain or whether the brains of drug addicts were wired differently from birth.

科学家发现成瘾或与遗传有关。来自英国剑桥大学的研究小组发现，在吸毒成瘾的兄弟姐妹中，其脑部都出现了异常情况。研究小组称自控能力差，毒品依赖性强都与脑部结构反常有关。研究人员认为从某种意义上来说，成瘾其实是一种“脑部疾病”。这一发现或许会对解决因毒品而产生的自控问题寻求办法。是毒品改变了脑部结构，还是因为成瘾者的脑部结构天生不同，这一研究试图寻找这一答案。

Lead researcher Dr Karen Ersche told the BBC: “It has long been known that not everyone who takes drugs becomes addicted.” She continued: “It shows that drug addiction is not a choice of lifestyle, it is a disorder of the brain and we need to recognise this. These brothers and sisters who don't have addiction problems, what they can tell us is how they overcome these problems, how they manage self-control in their daily life.” Dr Ersche and her colleagues studied 50 pairs of siblings, one with a history of drug addiction and one with no experience of taking drugs. She compared these with 50 healthy people. She concluded: “We need to find out how these non-addicted siblings were able to resist using drugs.”

研究主任凯伦·司启尔博士对BBC称：“并不是所有吸毒患者都会成瘾，这个我们早已知晓。”她还称：“该研究证明毒品成瘾并不是生活方式的选择，我们需要认识到的是这是一种“脑部疾病”。对于那些没有成瘾问题的兄弟姐妹，他们能够为我们讲述战胜困难，战胜自控力的方法。”司启尔博士和她的同事对50对兄弟姐妹进行了研究，一些拥有成瘾史，一些没有吸食过毒品。并与50名健康人士进行比较。她总结道：“我们需要对那些不成瘾，并能够自我克制的兄弟姐妹进行研究。”