Does Drug Use Make Holes In Your Brain?

Maybe your like

Thinking, Sensing & Behaving
- Aging
- Brain Development
- Childhood & Adolescence
- Diet & Lifestyle
- Emotions, Stress & Anxiety
- Hearing
- Language
- Learning & Memory
- Movement
- Pain
- Sleep
- Smell
- Taste
- Thinking & Awareness
- Touch
- Vision
- See All
Diseases & Disorders
- Addiction
- Alzheimer's & Dementia
- Cancer
- Childhood Disorders
- Epilepsy
- Immune System Disorders
- Injury
- Mental Health
- Neurodegenerative Disorders
- Infectious Disease
- COVID-19
- Neurological Disorders A-Z
- Therapies
- See All
Brain Anatomy & Function
- Anatomy
- Body Systems
- Cells & Circuits
- Evolution
- Genes & Molecules
- See All
Neuroscience in Society
- The Arts & the Brain
- Law, Economics & Ethics
- Neuroscience in the News
- Supporting Research
- Tech & the Brain
- See All
In the Lab
- Animals in Research
- BRAIN Initiative
- Meet the Researcher
- Neuro-technologies
- Tools & Techniques
- See All
Explore
3D Brain
Core Concepts
For Educators
Ask an Expert
Glossary
The Brain Facts Book
About Us
MyAccount

For Educators Log in

Thinking, Sensing & Behaving
- Aging
- Brain Development
- Childhood & Adolescence
- Diet & Lifestyle
- Emotions, Stress & Anxiety
- Hearing
- Language
- Learning & Memory
- Movement
- Pain
- Sleep
- Smell
- Taste
- Thinking & Awareness
- Touch
- Vision
- See All
Diseases & Disorders
- Addiction
- Alzheimer's & Dementia
- Cancer
- Childhood Disorders
- Epilepsy
- Immune System Disorders
- Injury
- Mental Health
- Neurodegenerative Disorders
- Infectious Disease
- COVID-19
- Neurological Disorders A-Z
- Therapies
- See All
Brain Anatomy & Function
- Anatomy
- Body Systems
- Cells & Circuits
- Evolution
- Genes & Molecules
- See All
Neuroscience in Society
- The Arts & the Brain
- Law, Economics & Ethics
- Neuroscience in the News
- Supporting Research
- Tech & the Brain
- See All
In the Lab
- Animals in Research
- BRAIN Initiative
- Meet the Researcher
- Neuro-technologies
- Tools & Techniques
- See All

Neuromyth Does drug use make holes in your brain?

Published1 Feb 2010
Reviewed1 Feb 2010
Source BrainFacts/SfN

FALSE

Only physical trauma can create a hole in your brain. Key brain regions in drug addicted people are reduced in size, but no actual holes are formed as a result of drug use. Drugs hijack the brain’s chemical communication system by interfering with the way cells send and receive messages. They target brain regions that produce pleasant feelings, overwhelming them and flooding the body with euphoric feelings. With chronic use, progressively more drugs are needed to achieve the same effects over time and pleasure becomes more difficult to achieve naturally.