AL1 — Return to the Rat Park
Emerging research at the University of Toronto strengthens the link between social isolation and increased vulnerability to addiction
WORDS BY RAFAEL FARIA-LOPES
ILLUSTRATION BY
Social isolation is a complex phenomenon to evaluate. Compared to other stimuli, it could be better understood as a lack thereof. Accordingly, evaluating the consequences of social isolation can be challenging but the importance of this task has arguably never been more evident with emerging negative health repercussions of COVID-19 protocols.1 Another complex phenomenon that has been tied to social isolation is addiction, which can be defined as a brain disorder characterised by patterns of compulsive behaviour such as drug seeking, and repeatedly engaged despite severe consequences. Addictive behaviours are estimated to have risen dramatically since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.2 The alignment of these trends highlights the need to further investigate how these two phenomena are mechanistically connected─an ongoing pursuit over the past half century.
In the mid 20th century, most of the research on how addictive substances affect behaviour involved studies with rats kept in small, solitary cages. The rats were given access to two drinking bottles: one laced with an addictive substance (usually cocaine), and one with just water. In this setting, rats would often neglect the clean water and begin to obsessively consume the drug-laced water until they eventually overdosed and died. This picture represents the accepted understanding at the time of how the “addictiveness” quality of a substance was considered to be the main and only factor that led to repeated self-administration despite the risk of overdose and overall detriment to health.
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