Many people do not understand why some people become addicted to drugs or how drugs change the brain so that it promotes compulsive drug abuse. They mistakenly view drug abuse and addiction are strictly social problem and may characterize addicts as morally weak. Another common belief is that drug abusers should be able to stop using drugs are only willing to change their behavior. People often do not realize how complex and that this addiction is a disease that impacts the brain. For this reason, stop abusing drugs is not simply to have willpower. Thanks to scientific advances, we now know much more about how exactly drugs work in brain and we also know that drug addiction can be successfully treated themselves, thus helping the abuser to stop abusing drugs and regain a productive life .
Drug abuse and addiction are a burden to society. By some estimates, the total cost of substance abuse in the United States, including costs related to health and crime and lost productivity, exceeds half a trillion dollars annually. This figure includes approximately $ 181 billion for illicit drugs, 1 $ 168 billion by tabaco2 and $ 185 billion by alcohol.3 Despite what these figures are daunting, they fail to fully illustrate the true impact of drug abuse and drug addiction on public health, including family breakdown, job loss, failure in school, domestic violence, child abuse and other crimes.
What is addiction?
Drug addiction is a chronic disease of the brain, often relapsing, characterized by search and compulsive drug use despite harmful consequences for the addict and those around him. Drug addiction is a brain disease because the abuse of drugs leads to changes in the structure and functioning of the brain. While it is true that in the case of most people the initial decision to take drugs is voluntary, over time changes in the brain caused by repeated drug abuse can affect self-control and the user’s ability to take sound decisions, while sending intense impulses to use drugs.
Because of these changes in the brain is very difficult for the addicted to stop abusing drugs. Fortunately there are treatments that help to counteract the destructive effects of a powerful addiction and regain control. Research shows that for most patients the best method of ensuring success is a combination of medications for treating addiction, when available, with behavioral therapy. You can achieve a sustained recovery and a life without substance abuse using approaches designed specifically to address the drug abuse pattern specific for each patient in conjunction with any medical, psychiatric or social concurrently.
Like many other chronic, relapsing diseases like diabetes, asthma or heart disease, drug addiction can be successfully treated. Similar to other chronic illnesses, relapse is common and that begin abusing drugs again. Relapse, however, does not signal failure. Rather they are a sign that should reinstate or adjust treatment or that alternative treatment is necessary for the person to regain control and recover.
What happens to your brain when you take drugs?
Drugs are chemicals that infiltrate the brain’s communication system, interrupting the sending, receiving and normal processing of information between nerve cells. There are at least two ways that drugs can do this: 1) mimicking the brain’s natural chemical messages or 2) over-stimulates the “reward circuit” of the brain.
Some drugs, like marijuana and heroin, have a structure similar to that of certain chemical messengers called neurotransmitters, the brain produces naturally. Because of this similarity, these types of drugs can “fool” the brain’s receptors and activate nerve cells to send messages abnormal.
Other drugs, like cocaine or methamphetamine, can cause nerve cells to release huge amounts of natural neurotransmitters or can block the normal recycling of these brain chemicals, which is necessary to cut off the signal between neurons. This results in a greatly amplified message that in turn hinders normal communication patterns
Nearly all drugs, directly or indirectly, attack the brain’s reward system flooding it with dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter present in regions of the brain that regulate movement, emotion, motivation and pleasurable sensations. Typically, this system responds to natural behaviors related to survival (eating, spending time with loved ones, etc..), But when it is overstimulated by the drug produces feelings of euphoria. This reaction starts a pattern that “teaches” people to repeat the behavior of drug abuse.
When a person continues to abuse drugs, the brain adapts to the overwhelming surges in dopamine by producing less dopamine or by reducing the number of dopamine receptors in the reward circuit. As a result, the impact of dopamine on the reward circuit is decreased, thus limiting the pleasure that the user is able to derive not only drugs but also of things that previously caused him pleasure. This decrease compels those addicted to drugs to keep abusing drugs in an attempt to get the dopamine function back to normal. But now you may need to consume a larger quantity of drugs to elevate the role of dopamine to normal levels early. This effect is called tolerance.
The long-term abuse causes changes in other chemical systems and circuits in the brain. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter that influences the reward circuit and the ability to learn. When drug abuse alters the optimal concentration of glutamate, the brain attempts to compensate, which can impair cognitive function. Drugs of abuse facilitate subconscious learning (conditioned), which makes the user feel like uncontrollable drug use when they see a place or a person associated with them, even though the drug itself is not available. The brain imaging studies of drug addicts show changes in brain areas essential for trial, decision making, learning, memory and behavior control. Taken together, these changes can cause the addict to become addicted to drugs, ie the look and compulsive use despite adverse consequences
Why do some people become addicted to drugs and not others?
No single factor can predict whether or not someone becomes addicted to drugs. The risk for addiction is affected by the biological makeup of the individual, social environment and age or stage of development where you are. The more risk factors you have, the greater the likelihood of drug abuse becomes addiction. For example:
* Biology: The genes you are born, in combination with environmental influences are responsible for about half of the susceptibility to addiction. Gender, ethnicity and the presence of other mental disorders may influence the risk for drug abuse and addiction.
* Environment or the Environment: The environment of each person includes many factors, from family and friends to socioeconomic status and quality of life in general. Certain factors such as pressure from friends or colleagues, physical or sexual abuse, stress and the role parents can have a huge influence on the course of drug abuse and addiction in a person’s life.
* Stage of development: genetic and environmental factors interact with critical stages of human development affecting susceptibility to addiction, adolescence being a stage facing a double challenge. While drug use at any age can lead to addiction, the earlier you start using drugs, the greater the likelihood of progressing to more serious abuse. This is because the brain areas that govern the decision-making, trial and self-control are still developing during adolescence, making teens are especially prone to risky behaviors, including experimentation with drugs of abuse.
The key is prevention
Drug addiction is a preventable disease. The results of the NIDA-sponsored research has shown that prevention programs that involve family, school, community and media are effective in reducing drug abuse. While there are many events and cultural factors that affect drug abuse trends, when youths perceive drug abuse as harmful, they reduce it. Therefore, we need to help young people and the general public to understand the risks of substance abuse and promoting, through teachers, parents and professionals in health care, the message that drug addiction can be prevented if the person fails to start abusing drugs in the first instance
Tags: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug Abuse prevention, Drug Addiction, What is a drug?
