Journal of Addiction Research & Therapy
Open Access

Mini Review

Genospirituality: Our Beliefs, Our Genomes, and Addictions

¹Department of Psychiatry, McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA

²Behavioral Neuroscience Ph.D. Program, Boston University School of Medicine, and Boston VA Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA

³Departments of Psychiatry and Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, and Boston VA Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA

⁴Department of Clinical Research, LLC National Institute for Holistic Addiction Studies Inc., North Miami Beach, FL, USA

⁵Department of Clinical Neurology, PATH Foundation NY, New York, NY, USA

⁶Department of Clinical Medicine, Meadowsedge Recovery Center, North Kingstown, RI, USA

⁷Institute of Integrative Omics & Applied Biotechnology, Nonakuri, Purba Medinipur, West Bengal, India

⁸Department of Sociology, California State University, Turlock, CA, USA

⁹Department of Addiction Research & Therapy, Malibu Beach Recovery Center, Malibu Beach, CA, USA

¹⁰Dominion Diagnostics, LLC, North Kingstown, RI, USA

¹¹Department of Genomics, IGENE, LLC, Austin, TX, USA

¹²Department of Psychiatry, Human Integrated Services Unit University of Vermont Center for Clinical & Translational Science, College of Medicine, Burlington, VT, USA

*Corresponding Author:

Kenneth Blum
Department of Psychiatry
McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida
College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL, USA
E-mail: drd2gene@gmail.com

Received date: September 02, 2013; Accepted date: September 30, 2013; Published date: October 10, 2013

Citation: Blum K, Thompson B, Oscar-Berman M, Giordano J, Braverman E, et al. (2013) Genospirituality: Our Beliefs, Our Genomes, and Addictions. J Addict Res Ther 4:162. doi:10.4172/2155-6105.1000162

Copyright: © 2013 Blum K, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Addictions to smoking, alcohol, illicit drugs, and certain behaviors like gambling, overeating, and sex, are prevalent worldwide. These behaviors are highly destructive and costly to individuals and society due to health consequences, criminality and lost productivity. The genetic vulnerability, environmental exposures, and individual behaviors that contribute to the brain dysfunction and compulsive tendencies that mark addiction make it one of the most complicated diseases to study and treat. Although much has been learned about the genetic basis of and biochemical imbalances associated with the addictions, research leading to effective treatments has been slow. Addictions are often accompanied by an inner sense of disintegration, enslavement and meaninglessness that can be viewed in terms of a spiritual craving for wholeness, freedom, and transformation. Arguably, progress towards effective treatment has been retarded by insufficient attention being paid to understanding the role of spirituality in helping to heal addicts. Assuming one accepts the belief that the brain mediates all conscious and unconscious experiences- including spiritual experiences -healing, like addictions, can be related to the processes by which the human brain is organized for controlling pleasure and pain. Here we hypothesize that a healthy spirituality may come more naturally to some individuals because of the unique interaction of their genes and their environments, and we review the evidence in support of this view.

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