Understanding drug addiction: a neuropsychological perspective

Abstract

The purpose of the present review is to describe the neuropsychological correlates of long-term substance abuse and to discuss the findings within the context of premorbid vulnerabilities, comorbidity and adolescent neurodevelopment. The authors critically review key findings from the neuropsychological literature related to the long-term sequelae of alcohol, cannabis, inhalant, opiates, psychostimulants and ecstasy use. Leading electronic databases such as PubMed were searched to identify relevant studies published in the past 20 years. References identified from bibliographies of pertinent articles and books in the field were also collected and selectively reviewed. Across substances, indi..