Born Addict: A Forward by Professor Kenneth Blum
I’m thrilled to share the forward to my new book, Born Addict, written by award winning American Scientist, Professor Kenneth Blum.
It is indeed an honour to provide Lori Germain with a Forward for her new book “Born Addict”. In reading this marvelous account true not only for Lori but millions if not even billons worldwide. In penning this forward, gratitude and even grace seems to help express my endorsement of this book endeavor by Lori. To help frame the basic tenant of this important work, it is indeed remarkable that “Born Addict” should be read by anyone caught up with Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS) either currently addicted or in recovery.
Clinically evident as diminution of drives and capacity to experience pleasure, Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS), refers to hypofunctionality of the brain circuits mediating reward and motivation, which is implicated in several neuropsychiatric conditions, including substance- and behavioral addictions, mood disorders, schizophrenia, impulsiveness, and certain personality traits. RDS is a polygenic, epigenetically modulated trait embedded in a complex network of interconnected reinforcement-related neural and neuroendocrine systems. “Born Addict” remarkably tells the story of Lori and provides a simple to understand basis of the dedicated work of the RDS -Consortium I proudly chair consisting of over 60 world class scientists.
Lori discusses some important take aways from our preclinical and clinical models of the RDS construct and show that dopamine reductions in the mesolimbic and cortico-striato-limbic circuits, regulated by stress, emotions, memory, and arousal, provide a shared basis for altered reward expectancy, perception, and pursuit.
Also, large-scale genetic polymorphism findings (e.g., DRD2 A1 and an array of other dopaminergic related genes) across various types of neuropsychiatric morbidity potentially render these types of morbidity different endophenotypic manifestations of a common reward-deficiency phenotype.
Clinically, RDS may be harnessed for a better detection of the emerging “preaddiction” concept, analogous to prediabetes, as this prodromal state may be better operationalized via dopamine dysregulation in mesolimbic circuits rather than currently available psychodiagnostic assessments, thereby guiding earlier intervention. To that end, the potential heuristic value for risk stratification of psychometric and genetic tools (e.g., the Genetic Addiction Risk Score and the Reward Deficiency Syndrome Questionnaire) and pro-dopamine regulatory approaches (e.g., KB220) is addressed in “Born Addict”.
Together, the reviewed findings support a refined RDS model, in which decreased reward sensitivity and context-dependent dopaminergic reactivity are proposed mechanisms underlying the link among diverse clinical phenomena.
Interestingly, this important book also serves as a potential guiding light to understand the rise of something called “Neurowellness” which regulating the nervous system is the next frontier of human health. While Lori’s account doesn’t actually use this new term, indeed her long battle is an example of finding happiness and meaning of life through not only the understanding of the concepts linked to RDS and the genetics of preaddiction, but its clinical practice.
Importantly, Neurowellness is an emerging field focused on regulating the nervous system to support whole-body health, resilience, and recovery. Rather than treating disease, neurowellness works upstream helping the body shift out of chronic stress and into states that support sleep, immunity, cognition, emotional balance, and long-term health. In reading Lori’s account of her life and her every day struggle is not novel to only her but the addictive prone world society. Along these lines, it is indeed unpredictable divide between science meets recovery.
Modern life keeps the nervous system in a near-constant state of low-grade “fight or flight.” Endless notifications, artificial light, work without boundaries, and chronic uncertainty prevent the body from fully recovering. When stress never turns off, it impacts sleep, mood, digestion, inflammation, immune function, and aging. Neurowellness matters because regulation is the foundation of health, not an add-on. In simple terms, when the brain mirrors “dopamine homeostasis,” the individual is in a state of neurowellness. However, as eloquently espoused by Lori’s “Born an Addict “reflects the powerful influence our genome has on our lives.
We must keep in mind that the phenotype of “Addictive Behavior” is based on not only one’s genes (e.g. Preaddiction) the trait but also epigenetics (e.g. environment), the state and it is this combination that induces the concept of born an addict. Interestingly, we cannot escape the remarkable fact that the environment now referred to as epigenetic, transgenerational, lasts for up to seven generations if not more, and as such profoundly influences one’s life choices. This in itself sets up a person’s vulnerability to imbibe in “pseudo-well being events leading to in some case catastrophic unwanted occurrences.
Germain’s account of her life struggles portrays an exploration of finding truth in the course of her sometimes-torturous life-but always seeking hope and answers. If one considers the unfathomable fact that if we use a conservative percentage of 10% being an addict which amounts to 820 million people worldwide, no wonder why so many families have struggled with a spouse, or sibling caught up in the throws of addiction.
Taken together, is there any hope for the potential elimination of this devastating brain disease we call Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS). If I have my druthers, the future of addiction medicine should embrace a plan to assist in reducing /eliminating RDS from human experience. While my scientific counterparts would rais their eyebrows pointing out that this plan is too reductionistic, why not give it a try and rigorously test it out in a large cohort. Along these lines, NIDA spent billions on the heal initiative only found to clearly fail (e .g give buprenorphine as a treatment for all addictions).1
With this stated this plan should involve 1) Provide the RDSQ which has been validated2 which will provide insurance companies with the basis to enable 2) Utilization of the Genetic Addiction Risk Severity (GARS) test statistically validated 3 3) utilize RBA profiling 4) induce dopamine homeostasis with KB2204 5) utilize RNA profiling to monitor dopamine homeostasis5.
Indeed, it is with high esteem that I personally want to congratulate Lori Gormin for her bravery to have penned “Born Addict” a must read for not only those unfortunately chined to an unwanted addictive lifestyle due to either born with high addictive risk genetics (trait) or epigenetic insults (state) or even both.
Enjoy the read!
Professor Kenneth Blum
References
Lewandrowski KU, Blum K, Lorio MP, Schmidt SL, Alvim Fiorelli RK. Billions Spent, Few Saved: Rethinking National Institutes of Health HEAL Initiative in Light of Dopaminergic Alternatives to the Opioid Trap. Int J Spine Surg. 2025 Dec 11;19(S3):S16-S29. doi: 10.14444/8804. PMID: 41249063; PMCID: PMC12862204.
Kótyuk E, Urbán R, Hende B, Richman M, Magi A, Király O, Barta C, Griffiths MD, Potenza MN, Badgaiyan RD, Blum K, Demetrovics Z. Development and validation of the Reward Deficiency Syndrome Questionnaire (RDSQ-29). J Psychopharmacol. 2022 Mar;36(3):409-422. doi: 10.1177/02698811211069102. Epub 2022 Feb 1. PMID: 35102768.
Blum K, Han D, Gupta A, Baron D, Braverman ER, Dennen CA, Kazmi S, Llanos-Gomez L, Badgaiyan RD, Elman I, Thanos PK, Downs BW, Bagchi D, Gondre-Lewis MC, Gold MS, Bowirrat A. Statistical Validation of Risk Alleles in Genetic Addiction Risk Severity (GARS) Test: Early Identification of Risk for Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) in 74,566 Case-Control Subjects. J Pers Med. 2022 Aug 26;12(9):1385. doi: 10.3390/jpm12091385. PMID: 36143170; PMCID: PMC9505592.
Blum K, Baron D, McLaughlin T, Thanos PK, Dennen C, Ceccanti M, Braverman ER, Sharafshah A, Lewandrowski KU, Giordano J, Badgaiyan RD. Summary Document Research on RDS Anti-addiction Modeling: Annotated Bibliography. J Addict Psychiatry. 2024 Apr 5;8(1):1-33. PMID: 38765881; PMCID: PMC11100022.
Blum K, Gold MS, Cadet JL, Gondre-Lewis MC, McLaughlin T, Braverman ER, Elman I, Paul Carney B, Cortese R, Abijo T, Bagchi D, Giordano J, Dennen CA, Baron D, Thanos PK, Soni D, Makale MT, Makale M, Murphy KT, Jafari N, Sunder K, Zeine F, Ceccanti M, Bowirrat A, Badgaiyan RD. Invited Expert Opinion- Bioinformatic and Limitation Directives to Help Adopt Genetic Addiction Risk Screening and Identify Preaddictive Reward Dysregulation: Required Analytic Evidence to Induce Dopamine Homeostatsis. Med Res Arch. 2023 Sep 14;11(8):10.18103/mra.v11i8.4211. doi: 10.18103/mra.v11i8.4211. PMID: 37885438; PMCID: PMC10601302.
