People experiencing addiction are also prone to cycles of relapse and remission. They can lead to permanent health complications and serious consequences like bankruptcy. Millions of readers rely on HelpGuide.org for free, evidence-based resources to understand and navigate mental health challenges. Addictive drugs provide a shortcut to the brain’s reward system by flooding the nucleus accumbens with dopamine.
How Are Families Impacted by a Loved One’s Substance Abuse?
The effects of drugs are pleasurable and rewarding only in relation to how a person feels emotionally and physically in the context of his or her relationships and social life and other opportunities for development and reward. As a result of scientific research, we know that addiction is a medical disorder that affects the brain and changes behavior. We have identified many of the biological and environmental risk factors and are beginning to search for the genetic variations that contribute to the development and progression of the disorder. Scientists use this knowledge to develop effective prevention and treatment approaches that reduce the toll drug use takes on individuals, families, and communities. Many different theories of addiction exist because they weight the role of contributing factors differently. Some current models of addiction emphasize the causative role of individual variations in biology or genes that make a substance or experience feel more or less pleasurable.
Risk factors
But understanding the causes of your addiction can help you break it. Cocaine processed so that it can be smoked, it enters the blood stream rapidly and produces a rapid “rush” of a high; the immediate response becomes powerfully reinforcing, driving the motivation to repeat the experience. As we conclude our exploration of addiction’s etymology, we find ourselves at a fascinating intersection of past and present. The journey from the Latin “addictus” to our modern, multifaceted understanding of addiction is a testament to the evolving nature of language and human understanding.
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Just as cardiovascular disease damages the heart and diabetes impairs the pancreas, addiction hijacks the brain. This happens as the brain goes through a series of changes, beginning with recognition of pleasure and ending with a drive toward compulsive behavior. The common but mistaken view of addiction addiction vs dependence as a brain disease suggests that there is some malfunction in the brain that leads to addiction. Studies show that repeated use of a substance (or an activity), encouraged by a surge in dopamine, creates changes in the wiring of the brain—and those changes are reversible after drug use stops.
Stopping some drugs then relapsing can heighten your risk of overdose, mental health problems, or other life-threatening medical complications, and should be done under medical supervision. For many others, quitting can lead to unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, even with behaviors, and can open up uncomfortable feelings that were being soothed or https://ecosoberhouse.com/ suppressed by the addictive behavior. If you are starting to think you might have an addiction, you have probably moved into the contemplation stage. This is a great time to find out more about the substance or behavior that you have been engaging in and to reflect honestly on whether you are experiencing any signs or symptoms of addiction.
action: ‘healthbeat’
- Some people may be more prone to addiction because they feel less pleasure through natural routes, such as from work, friendships, and romance.
- So families need help in their own right to recognize and address addictive behaviors and establish healthy boundaries and relationships.
- But recovering from substance use disorders and behavioral addictions isn’t easy.
- In the context of substance abuse or behavioral addictions, this etymology paints a vivid picture of the addict’s relationship with their addiction – a giving over of oneself, a devotion that can become all-consuming.