How Social Status Messes With Addiction

Turns out, your social rank could literally rewire your brain’s addiction circuits. In this wild study, low-ranking male mice had supercharged reward signals and weak self-control, making them way more likely to chase meth. High-rankers? Better balance, less drug-seeking. Even crazier: giving low-rankers a taste of victory boosted their status AND made them less likely to seek drugs. But for female mice, social status didn’t matter—they went for the meth either way. Brain chemistry is wild! #Neuroscience #AddictionScience #BrainFacts #MentalHealth #Health