Morgan P Lorio ¹ , Kai Uwe Lewandrowski ² , Kavya Mohankumar ³ , Alexander PL Lewandrowski ⁴ , Kyriaki Z Thanos ⁵ , Sergio Luis Schmidt ⁶ , Rossano Kepler Alvim Fiorelli ⁶ , Alireza Sharafshah⁶ , Álvaro Dowling ⁷ , Rafaela Dowling ⁷ , Marco Lindenau ⁷ , João Bergamaschi ⁷ , Igor Elman⁸ , Albert Pinhasov⁹ , Abdalla Bowirrat ⁹ , Edward J Modestino ¹⁰ , Rajendra D Badgaiyan¹¹ , Paul R Carney¹² , Rene Cortese¹³ and Kenneth Blum⁶,⁷,⁹ *

¹ Orlando College of Osteopathic Medicine, Winter Garden, FL, USA
² Department of Orthopedics, University of Arizona, Banner Medical Center, Tucson, Arizona, USA
³ Ocean State Research Institute, Providence VA Medical Center, Providence, RI, USA
⁴ Department of Biological Sciences, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles, CA., USA
⁵ Department of Psychology, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA.
⁶ Post-Graduate Program in Neurology, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
⁷ The Kenneth Blum Behavioral & Neurogenetic Institute, Austin, TX., USA
⁸ Department of Psychiatry, Harvard University School of Medicine, Cambridge, MA., USA
⁹ Department of Molecular Biology, Adelson School of Medicine, Ariel University, Ariel 40700, Israel
¹⁰ Brain and Behavior Laboratory, Curry College, Milton, MA., USA
¹¹ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX., USA
¹² Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Program, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO., USA
¹³ Department of Internal Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA

*Corresponding Author: Kenneth Blum, Post-Graduate Program in Neurology, Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Received: January 05, 2026; Published: January 30, 2026

Abstract

Neuroscience suggests we’ve been treating symptoms, not the system [1]. Addiction is usually described as many different prob- lems including alcohol, opioids, stimulants, gambling, compulsive eating, and many behavioral addictions [2]. What if addiction isn’t about drugs or behavior at all—but about a brain that cannot experience reward normally? Medicine treats these conditions sepa- rately. Policy regulates them separately. Research often studies them separately [3].
But the brain does not.
Across these conditions, relapse rates remain stubbornly high [4]. Prevention struggles to gain traction. Patients often move from one diagnosis to another with little lasting relief. The pattern is hard to ignore. What if these behaviors are not separate diseases at all—but different expressions of the same underlying brain dysfunction?
Neuroscience increasingly suggests exactly that.

Keywords:Reward Deficiency Syndrome; Addiction; Dopamine; Reward Circuitry; Compulsive Behavior

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Citation

Citation: Kenneth Blum., et al. “Why Addiction, Compulsion, and Craving Share the Same Brain Circuit: Is it Called “Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS)?”". Acta Scientific Neurology 9.2 (2026): 03-06.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2026 Kenneth Blum., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.