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Perioperative Addiction pp 35–50Cite as

The Genetic Basis of Addiction

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Abstract

Addiction is a complex disease infl uenced by genetic, environmental, developmental, and social factors. Once viewed as a moral weakness in character, substance use disorders are now defi ned as maladaptive patterns of substance use leading to inability to control use despite signifi cant consequences in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) [ 1 ]. Family, adoption, and twin studies support the importance of biologic factors and prompted the search for an inherited link. Because addiction is a heterogeneous and complex disorder without a clear Mendelian pattern, identifi cation of specifi c genes has proved challenging.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Chad Epps MD

  2. Department of Clinical and Diagnostic Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Chad Epps MD & Elizabeth Laura Wright PhDc, MNA, CRNA

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  1. Chad Epps MD
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  2. Elizabeth Laura Wright PhDc, MNA, CRNA
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Correspondence to Chad Epps MD .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Associate Professor, New York, 10029, New York, USA

    Ethan O. Bryson

  2. Department of Anesthesiology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Professor, New York, 10029, New York, USA

    Elizabeth A. M. Frost

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Epps, C., Wright, E.L. (2012). The Genetic Basis of Addiction. In: Bryson, E., Frost, E. (eds) Perioperative Addiction. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0170-4_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0170-4_2

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