They Do It To Relieve Stress
Stress is a part of everyday life. It can be anything from changing a tire to pressures at work. For an addict, stress, no matter how small, can fuel the desire to use drugs.
Drugs offer them an escape from their daily problems. Take alcohol, for example. Many people go to a bar and drink away the day.
Alcoholics do it even more so. Some are even so bad, they need alcohol just to function.
As is the case with self-medication, drugs make the problem worse. It also inhibits a users ability to handle stress sober.
Reasons Why People Get Addicted To Drugs
Nowadays, drug abuse is a universally condemned action such that selling certain drugs are illegal. Children are not allowed to take drugs until they reach a certain age such as 21 for most states in India. Lots of problems start occurring when you are addicted to a certain drug. It is also nearly impossible to stop since the nerve cells change the way they function due to drugs.
These nerve cells overstimulate the ‘reward circuit’ of the brain. This means that your brain constantly needs to be ‘rewarded’ and this reward comes in the form of drugs. There are many reasons why people become addicts and here are some of them.
How Quickly Do Drugs Become Addictive
- Addiction BlogHow Quickly Do Drugs Become Addictive?
- Drug Addiction Treatment
Drug addiction is a chronic disease of the brain that must be managed over a lifetime. However, developing an addiction is a much quicker process than treating one. Most people know that drugs and even other substances or activities can be addictive, but they may not know how addiction develops. Understanding how quickly drugs become addictive is key in the prevention of substance abuse.
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How Is Substance Use Disorder Diagnosed
The first step to diagnosing a drug addiction is recognizing the problem and wanting help. This initial step may start with an intervention from friends or loved ones. Once someone decides to seek help for addiction, the next steps include:
- Complete exam by a healthcare provider.
- Individualized treatment, either inpatient or outpatient.
How Drugs Affect The Brain
When people begin using drugs, the way the brain functions begins to change.
Drugs have an effect on the way the brain communicates, and they can affect the way nerve cells send, receive, and interpret information.
Drugabuse.gov states that there are two ways this disruption of the brain can happen:
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Drug Addiction And The Brain
Addiction impacts the brain on many levels. The chemical compounds in stimulants, nicotine, opioids, alcohol, and sedatives enter the brain and bloodstream upon use. Once a chemical enters the brain, it can cause people to lose control of their impulses or crave a harmful substance.
When someone develops an addiction, the brain craves the reward of the substance. This is due to the intense stimulation of the brains reward system. In response, many users continue use of the substance this can lead to a host of euphoric feelings and strange behavioural traits. Long-term addiction can have severe outcomes, such as brain damage, and can even result in death.
Why Do Only Some People Suffer From Addiction
This is an age-old question that many people ask, particularly when it is their loved one suffering from an addictive disorder. Why is it that only some people will get addicted to drugs, while others can drink and use without ever having a problem?
Experts are always investigating this topic. What we know today is that some people are simply more vulnerable to addiction than others, based on the risk factors above. Stressful early life experiences such as being abused, suffering from trauma, even prenatal exposure to alcohol or other drugs can put a person at greater risk of addiction. Being around other peers who drink and use drugs, as well as lacking parental supervision at home, also plays a part in a persons risk.
There is a wide range of genetic and environmental factors that promote strong psychosocial well-being and resilience to drug addiction, ultimately balancing or counteracting the risk factors listed above. With that said, it remains difficult to predict who will get addicted to drugs and who wont, since these factors are not always apparent.
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What Happens To The Brain When A Person Takes Drugs
Most drugs affect the brain’s “reward circuit,” causing euphoria as well as flooding it with the chemical messenger dopamine. A properly functioning reward system motivates a person to repeat behaviors needed to thrive, such as eating and spending time with loved ones. Surges of dopamine in the reward circuit cause the reinforcement of pleasurable but unhealthy behaviors like taking drugs, leading people to repeat the behavior again and again.
As a person continues to use drugs, the brain adapts by reducing the ability of cells in the reward circuit to respond to it. This reduces the high that the person feels compared to the high they felt when first taking the drugan effect known as tolerance. They might take more of the drug to try and achieve the same high. These brain adaptations often lead to the person becoming less and less able to derive pleasure from other things they once enjoyed, like food, sex, or social activities.
Long-term use also causes changes in other brain chemical systems and circuits as well, affecting functions that include:
Despite being aware of these harmful outcomes, many people who use drugs continue to take them, which is the nature of addiction.
Environment And Drug Addiction
Environmental factors for drug addiction relate to someones family life, school life and community. Children who live in a home environment where family members misuse drugs or alcohol or break the law have an increased risk of future drug problems. Friends and peers can also influence people, especially during their teen years. If someone struggles in school or they have poor social skills, they may be more at risk of developing a substance use disorder.
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Who Can Become Addicted To Drugs
The short answer is that anyone can become an addict. However, there are some factors that can make certain individuals more susceptible than others. Drugabuse.gov states that three of these factors are biology, environment, and development.
Biology and environment go hand in hand, in a way.
According to a study in PubMed Central, Both genetic and environmental variables contribute to the initiation of use of addictive agents and to the transition from use to addiction. Addictions are moderately to highly heritable. Family, adoption and twin studies reveal that an individuals risk tends to be proportional to the degree of genetic relationship to an addicted relativeThe moderate to high heritabilities of addictive disorders are paradoxical, because addictions initially depend on the availability of the addictive agent and the individuals choice to use it.
In other words, addiction can be genetic but is also affected by the environment in which one is raised. If drugs and alcohol are not readily available and are not considered the norm as someone is growing up, they are less likely to begin using the substances.
However, if substance abuse is common in the home they are raised in, they may be more prone to considering it normal and partaking in it themselves, leading to addiction.
This is where development also comes into the picture.
Can Prescription Drugs Be Addictive
The straightforward answer is Yes, and we will tell you why. Prescription drugs are usually strong medications. Furthermore, some prescription drugs are similar to controlled substances in that they can affect how your brain works over time. Such drugs influence the brains neurotransmitters and can affect its reward system. So, if you continue the inappropriate use of such medication, your self-control will decline in the long run. This will lead to further dependence and, of course, an addiction to the prescription drug.
Furthermore, by choosing to use the wrong dosage of prescription drugs, your body may develop a tolerance. In this case, to feel the same effect that you are used to, you will have to up your drug intake. For instance, if you abuse prescription pain medication, as time progresses, you may have to take more to achieve the same level of pain relief. This tolerance can then lead to dependency.
More often than not, drug abuse is how people get addicted to prescription drugs. Let us look at why addiction to prescription drugs is more rampant in recent times.
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What Makes Drugs Addictive
All addictive substances have different effects on the brain, but also specific similarities. Addictive drugs produce a surge of dopamine in a part of the brain called the basal ganglia. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter. Neurotransmitters transmit messages between our nerve cells. The basal ganglia are part of the brain that controls reward. This area of the brain also affects our ability to learn based on whether or not something is rewarding.
When someone repeatedly uses a substance that increases dopamine, it trains the brain to associate the rewarding feeling of the dopamine flood with the substance. As the cues grow increasingly linked to the substance, it becomes more difficult to stop thinking about it. If our brains link the use of a substance to that pleasure, then were compelled to keep seeking them out.
What To Do If Someone Has A Drug Addiction
Despite all the possible causes of drug addiction, there is good news. More than ever, researchers understand how drugs affect the brainand, as a result, have found treatments that can help people recover and lead productive lives.
Studies support an integrated, multifaceted approach to addiction treatment, where behavioural therapies are combined with clinical treatments to help patients overcome this battle. Drug treatment should also involve individual counselling to help uncover a persons reasons for using drugs. This is key to achieving sobriety. Above all else, drug addiction treatment should always be tailored to an individuals needs and drug use patterns addressing any co-occurring disorders, or medical or social problems, that may be at play in the recovery process.
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How Do People Get Addicted To Drugs
Addiction has both a psychological and a physical component. The physical component of addiction is called tolerance. Tolerance is a state in which a person needs to take more and more of a drug to receive the same effects, and it can occur in people who do not go on to develop full addiction.
The psychological part of addiction occurs when a person starts feeling compelled to take the drug despite obvious negative consequences in body and mind. The addition of this component sets addiction apart from tolerance.
Unresponsive Not Breathing And No Pulse: Bob Saget 911 Call Released
In 1987, he landed his big break on Full House playing alongside friends John Stamos and Dave Coulier, whose impressive flatulence Saget regularly referenced in his memoir.
Behind the scenes, the trio was always cracking raunchy, juvenile jokes and even raided the prop closet to do whippits while the crew filmed scenes for the birthday party of Michelle Tanner .
I grabbed Dave and John and we went into the prop room backstage and locked the door I swung open the refrigerator, and behold! Six cans of whipped cream. Reddi-wip. Nitrous oxide is dangerous. Can cause brain damage Dave and John followed my lead and we inhaled the little bit of air still left in the cans that were meant for Michelles birthday cake scene. I guess we got high, dont think so though. It was hard to tell, cause we were in a hurry and whipped cream started squirting everywhere.
But Saget wasnt really one for getting high. He admitted to trying cocaine, but wrote, Im anti-drugs, except the ones I take for cholesterol, anxiety, a sleep disorder and tranquilizing animals.
In 1982, he married high school sweetheart Sherri Kramer and had three daughters, Jennifer, Aubrey and Lara. But the pair divorced in 1997, and he told Stern, We werent happy together. He added: The last couple years of our marriage, I was more of a flirter than Id ever been in my life it wasnt about me being famous, it was about me being an idiot.
To this day, Im appreciative of his compassion.
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Understanding Drug Use And Addiction Drugfacts
Many people don’t understand why or how other people become addicted to drugs. They may mistakenly think that those who use drugs lack moral principles or willpower and that they could stop their drug use simply by choosing to. In reality, drug addiction is a complex disease, and quitting usually takes more than good intentions or a strong will. Drugs change the brain in ways that make quitting hard, even for those who want to. Fortunately, researchers know more than ever about how drugs affect the brain and have found treatments that can help people recover from drug addiction and lead productive lives.
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Reviewed by Certified Addiction Professional: July 15, 2019
David Hampton
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David embarked on his journey into sobriety in June of 2005, which led him to his current career path as a Certified Professional Addiction Recovery Coach in private practice in Greater Nashville. David is also a public speaker and the author of two books. David is cohost of the weekly Positive Sobriety Podcast, as well as being a frequent contributor to various articles and recovery based materials. As a member of the National Association of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors , David works closely with area treatment centers, recovery orientated nonprofit organizations, as well as being a keynote speaker for various recovery-focused events.
- More from David Hampton
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Harsh Consequences Shame And Punishment Are Simply Not Effective Ways To Heal A Persons Addiction
A person cant undo the effects drugs have had on their body chemistry through sheer willpower. Like other chronic illnesses, such as asthma or type 2 diabetes, ongoing management of addiction is required for long-term recovery. And there are plenty of evidence-based solutions that can help people with substance use disorders get there.
Rising Phoenix Wellness Services
Rising Phoenix is a licensed mental health and substance abuse intensive outpatient program in Scottsdale, Arizona. Our expert, compassionate team provides a full continuum of care for individuals struggling with substance use disorders, mental health, or dual diagnosis disorders.
We believe everyone is unique and design a treatment plan that fits each clients needs. Our team is skilled in scientifically proven, evidence-based approaches to addiction recovery and carefully incorporates the strategies most likely to benefit the person in recovery.
We invite you to contact Rising Phoenix to learn more about our addiction recovery, mental health, and dual diagnosis treatment programs.
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Are Certain Drugs More Addictive Than Others
Certain chemical substances, like methamphetamine and heroin, for example, are highly addictive regardless of who you are and how many risk factors you personally possess. If you have been struggling with a drug abuse disorder or a drug addiction, the most important step you can take is reaching out for professional help. In a professional treatment center like Evoke Wellness, a team of addiction specialists, therapeutic practitioners, and mental health professionals work together to uncover the underlying cause of the substance use disorder. This allows them to develop a personalized treatment plan which helps treat the root cause of addiction. It is important to keep in mind the fact that addiction is a chronic and relapsing brain disease without professional help, the symptoms associated with addiction will only get worse over time. Contact Evoke Wellness to begin your own personal journey of drug addiction recovery.
Drug Addiction And Mental Health
There are complex associations between addiction and mental health. Many people with a substance use disorder also have a co-occurring mental health disorder. Around one in four people with a serious mental illness such as major depression or bipolar disorder also have a substance use disorder. In some cases, people may have started with a mental health disorder and gained a substance use disorder by trying to self-medicate their symptoms with drugs or alcohol. In others, their substance abuse led to new mental health symptoms or worsened existing ones.
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Overcome Addiction With Professional Treatment
The most successful treatment plans for addiction recovery typically include:
- Medically supervised detoxification, as withdrawal effects can be severe and dangerous.
- Inpatient or intensive outpatient rehabilitation. Effective programs include individual, group, and family counseling, behavioral health services, and medication-assisted treatment .
- Use of evidence-based treatment approaches like cognitive behavioral therapy .
- Treatment of both mental illness and substance use disorder in dual diagnosis cases.
- Ongoing support and assistance after the patient completes the in-clinic program, including psychiatric and medication services as needed.
- Alumni and peer support services.
