Traditionally, much discussion about addiction causes and the treatments has centered on the mind. The weak-minded and weak willed were more likely to become addicted, and treatment required a strengthening of mind and will. Somehow, it's the addicts fault - whether the object of addiction is drugs, alcohol, smoking food, sex, gambling or any other "abnormal" craving.

Increasingly, however, research is showing that both cause and treatment for addiction centers on the brain - not just in the mind. Much as presence of certain genes is thought to trigger cancer and a host of other diseases, so now is the medical community learning that many addiction core causes and cures result from a variety of genes specific to different ailments. For example, the gene that causes food addiction is different from the one that causes alcohol addiction.

Here's how it unfolds: the majority of people are born with about 400,000 brain receptor sites for the chemical dopamine, crucial to processing the stressful events of life. About one-third of the population, carriers of an addiction gene, is born with only half as many receptor sited, so dopamine can't permeate the brain as it does in the non-addictive brain. These people have great difficulty processing stress, and tend to be anxious, depressed and on edge, as in the case of "road rage".

Food, sex, alcohol, drugs gambling - as well as other substances and behaviors - trigger dopamine release. in the receptor-deficient population, the resulting dopamine flood tied to the specific addiction gene in that person's body causes the brain to release a secondary, highly addictive chemical. From then on, the person intensely craves the feeling of normalcy brought about by the addictive substance.

In the case of substances like alcohol and drugs, use destroys more dopamine receptor sites, so increasing amounts of the substance are needed to create the same high. this accounts for the ever-increasing quantities of alcohol and drugs consumed to feel good and achieve some measure of stress relief.

Fortunately there are remedies for this physiologically based addiction cures. Treatments featuring proprietary mixes of amino acids, peptides, vitamins, minerals and certain nutrients are shown to help to reverse the genetic damage. Administered intravenously or orally, these treatments help repair the damage - thereby boosting the brain's ability to produce dopamine.

Our Third Generation Genetic Repair System program, for example, is administered intravenously under the supervision of a licensed physician for about 10 days. While it has consistently produced dramatic results in reversing physiological addictions, a comprehensive psychological counseling program that supports the continuation of the persons newfound lifestyle also is critically important to long-term success.