About this Research Topic
As we enter the third decade of the 21st Century, major advances in the fast-growing field of mental health have been exceptional. Frontiers have organized a series of Research Topics to highlight the latest advances in mental health research into Addiction.
The Neuroscience portfolio at Frontiers is launching Research Topics to promote international scientific awareness of mental health disorders. This Research Topic article collection will focus on the broader social context in which individuals live and its influence on vulnerability to and resilience against substance use and substance use disorders. Social influences on substance use trajectories occur at various levels from society to neighborhood to family to the individual and all of these can impact the brain in numerous ways. The overall aim of the Topic is to focus on underrepresented areas of addiction research that shed light on these interactions and can identify opportunities for clinically relevant and actionable interventions.
The Research Topic solicits brief, forward-looking contributions from researchers around the globe that describe the state of the science, highlight recent developments and major accomplishments, and identify the next steps to move the field forward. Authors are encouraged to identify the greatest challenges in their sub-disciplines and to formulate ways to begin to address those challenges. This article collection is intended to inspire, inform, and provide direction and guidance to researchers in the field. Suggested topics include but are not limited to:
• Studies examining social influences at various levels (e.g., structural/systemic, neighborhood, familial, individual) on neural processes underlying vulnerability to substance use and the transition to substance use disorders
• Studies Investigating social processes, from inclusion to exclusion and marginalization, and their relation to neural mechanisms of substance use disorders.
• Research focused on social functioning, biological mechanisms behind it, examining it as both a determinant of substance use disorders and as a variable affected by it.
• Research aimed at understanding the social behaviors that can result in substance use disorders, which can lead to advances in addiction treatment
• Research on the neural substrates of drug reward, withdrawal and relapse, and the social behaviors related to these specific phases of drug addiction
• Research into epigenetic signatures, early life experience and environmental factors, and how these converge to influence gene expression patterns and behavioral trait transmission at the individual level and between generations.
• Novel ways to model social interaction and examine its mechanisms and effects on behaviors associated with substance use disorders
• Assessments and evaluations of potential treatments that incorporate an understanding of the role of social factors on substance use disorders.
The Neuroscience portfolio at Frontiers is launching Research Topics to promote international scientific awareness of mental health disorders. This Research Topic article collection will focus on the broader social context in which individuals live and its influence on vulnerability to and resilience against substance use and substance use disorders. Social influences on substance use trajectories occur at various levels from society to neighborhood to family to the individual and all of these can impact the brain in numerous ways. The overall aim of the Topic is to focus on underrepresented areas of addiction research that shed light on these interactions and can identify opportunities for clinically relevant and actionable interventions.
The Research Topic solicits brief, forward-looking contributions from researchers around the globe that describe the state of the science, highlight recent developments and major accomplishments, and identify the next steps to move the field forward. Authors are encouraged to identify the greatest challenges in their sub-disciplines and to formulate ways to begin to address those challenges. This article collection is intended to inspire, inform, and provide direction and guidance to researchers in the field. Suggested topics include but are not limited to:
• Studies examining social influences at various levels (e.g., structural/systemic, neighborhood, familial, individual) on neural processes underlying vulnerability to substance use and the transition to substance use disorders
• Studies Investigating social processes, from inclusion to exclusion and marginalization, and their relation to neural mechanisms of substance use disorders.
• Research focused on social functioning, biological mechanisms behind it, examining it as both a determinant of substance use disorders and as a variable affected by it.
• Research aimed at understanding the social behaviors that can result in substance use disorders, which can lead to advances in addiction treatment
• Research on the neural substrates of drug reward, withdrawal and relapse, and the social behaviors related to these specific phases of drug addiction
• Research into epigenetic signatures, early life experience and environmental factors, and how these converge to influence gene expression patterns and behavioral trait transmission at the individual level and between generations.
• Novel ways to model social interaction and examine its mechanisms and effects on behaviors associated with substance use disorders
• Assessments and evaluations of potential treatments that incorporate an understanding of the role of social factors on substance use disorders.
Keywords: addiction, social behaviour, social exclusion, marginalization, social functioning, biological mechanisms, neural mechanisms, resilience, vulnerability
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
