Can cocaine addicts control their cravings? According to recent research summarized in a Science Daily post, when cocaine abusers were asked to inhibit their response to a “cocaine-cues” video, most were able to suppress activity in brain regions linked to drug craving.

This finding is part of a new study at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory. The results suggest that clinical interventions designed specifically to strengthen inhibitory responses could in fact help cocaine users to stop using drugs and successfully avoid relapse.

"Exposure to drugs or stimuli associated with using drugs is one of the most common factors leading to relapse in drug-addicted individuals," said Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in Science Daily. "Our findings provide enormous hope because they imply that cognitive interventions might be developed to maximize cocaine abusers' success in blocking the drug-craving response to help them avoid relapse."

Using a brain scan technique, researchers were able to monitor which brain regions are the most active and how that activity changes with time or in response to different situations. Heart rate and blood pressure were also monitored and indicated the cocaine-cues video could trigger increases in brain activity in several regions associated with drug craving.

"We know from previous studies that drug cues can trigger dramatic changes in the brain that are linked to a strong craving response," added co-author Gene-Jack Wang, Chair of Brookhaven's medical department. "This study provides the first evidence that cocaine abusers retain some ability to cognitively inhibit their craving responses to drug-related cues."

As inhibitory control is considered to be crucial in regulating emotions and desires, the findings from this study could have far-reaching implications for disorders that go beyond drug addiction.