Nucleus Accumbens

NAc

Tissue Cns

Where reward is registered and where the decision to repeat something is made. Anabolic steroids are reinforcing in animals at this site, which is the anatomical reason dependence is possible at all.

Relationships

4 connections

Nucleus Accumbens increases risk of

Dependence and Withdrawal

Difficulty stopping despite harm, with low mood, lost drive and fatigue on withdrawal. Recognised as a genuine dependence syndrome in around a third of long-term users.

Nucleus Accumbens reduces risk of

Loss of Pleasure

Things that used to be enjoyable stop landing. Distinct from low mood: a person can have normal mood and still get nothing out of food, sex, music or company. Reported most on the progestogenic and prolactin-raising compounds, and it is the effect people most often fail to name because it does not feel like sadness.

Nucleus Accumbens stimulates

Drive and Motivation

Willingness to start things and to keep going. Reported separately from mood and separately from libido, and it moves separately: compounds exist that lift mood and flatten drive, and the reverse.

Ventral Tegmental Area

Where the brain's dopamine neurons live. Everything that feels rewarding, including the compounds themselves, is signalled from here. This is the origin of the reward pathway.

Beyond this page

Nucleus Accumbens also connects to 1 entry in the applied modules, covering supplements, compounds, hormones and food sources. Those carry the mechanism and the evidence tier behind each link, and they are part of client coaching.

Get your free assessment