Dr Karen Ersche, who is leading the research in the Department of Psychiatry, describes how previous research has focused on brain abnormality found in addicts. If siblings have similar problems with self-control, as a result of inefficiency in the wiring to the frontal part of the brain, the question is why they don’t build drug-taking habits. Dr Ersche believes these non-addicted sibling responses can teach us a valuable lesson. ‘There are good indicators,’ she says ‘that the problem of self-control has been there before they actually became addicted. This means that the siblings can tell us how they cope in daily life.’
They invited 50 pairs of siblings to Cambridge and tested for health, personality, brain function, and genetic markers. There is also a control group who have no family history of drug addiction or use. Ersche describes a striking feature which emerged: ‘the sibling pairs shared childhood experiences of abuse, violence, neglect but only one of them went on to drugs so why they didn’t is the next step. Coming from a deprived or troubled background doesn’t mean you have to go on to drugs but if your brain is wired in a certain way you are very much at risk.’
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