While we may hear about addiction and know it has adverse side effects, we often overlook what addiction truly is. Drugs and alcohol are the more common manifestation of substance abuse, but true addiction can present itself in several ways, including craving, loss of control, and continued involvement. It affects the brain’s behavior more aggressively than we understand, often overriding cognitive reasoning. This article discusses the science of addiction and how it’s linked to our mentality and behavior. Addiction treatment targets these signs, so you’re not a slave to its effects.
Cravings
When a person becomes addicted, their brain yearns for a high. This results from the brain’s reward system being stimulated very strongly. Cravings are potent memories connected to how drugs affect the brain’s neurochemistry, which involves the hippocampus, caudate, and insula. These are the same brain regions in drug addiction. Our hippocampus is crucial for remembering, which supports the behavior that makes us crave rewards. The caudate controls how we move, remember things, get rewarded, become motivated, and feel something. Lastly, the insula regulates our sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. Those systems have to do with our fight-or-flight responses and our ability to sense when we are drowsy.
According to Alcohol Research and Health, even after extended abstinence, the adaptive modifications create memories of the substance’s pleasurable effects that can be triggered when addiction-related environmental stimuli are encountered, leading to relapse. Similar to how difficult circumstances may bring up memories of the solace alcohol provided, this could also result in deterioration. This makes regulation of the environment crucial in addiction treatment. Numerous brain chemicals and brain areas that may be implicated in desire have been found through neurobiological and brain-imaging investigations. Cravings may also be influenced by psychiatric disorders like sadness or anxiety that impact some brain regions, which is why counseling is also a priority in treatment.
Loss of Control
Once these cravings affect those battling addiction, they lose control of their decision-making. Their addiction takes precedence above all other decisions. This is caused by the way we receive dopamine. Dopamine is produced in the ventral region of the brain during behaviors like eating and social interaction. Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that interact with receptor cells in the body. Dopamine interacts with receptors in the accumbens, a region of the brain linked to motivation and emotion, as it moves through the brain. The dopamine rush produces pleasurable sensations and aids in teaching people to repeat the behavior that made them. This relationship is more substantial the higher the spike.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), drugs can produce several times the dopamine typically released during addiction. An overstimulation from addiction also removes all desire for other activities or hobbies. This is because they no longer have the same neural response as before and no longer receive a healthy dopamine level. To an extent, the receptors are fried from overstimulation. This also affects the ability to feel pain. The anterior cingulate cortex, a part of the brain, aids with emotion control and conflict processing. This is smaller and weaker in addicts, making them unable to feel or sense the damage they’re inflicting on themselves.
Continued Use
While the above physical responses usually cause continued use, some factors drive individuals back to their substance abuse. The first reason is that drugs can ease negative mental health symptoms. Some individuals who experience stress, sadness, and social anxiety start using medicines to feel less uneasy. In people suffering from addiction, stress can play a significant influence in both initiating and maintaining drug use, as well as relapsing. Drugs have the power to elicit intense pleasure. Other consequences follow this initial euphoria, depending on the medication used. Opioids like heroin, however, generate joy, relaxation, and fulfillment.
Another reason is practical. Many students or people amid their career experience pressure to sharpen their focus. This may influence whether someone tries or keeps using drugs like cocaine or prescription stimulants. Another side of drug addiction is the need to fit in. Teenagers are especially vulnerable since peer pressure can be very intense. Substance use can start throughout the developmental stage of adolescence if risk factors, like the presence of drug-using peers, are present.
The Danger of Addiction
As we have just discussed, the science behind addiction reveals the ugly side of continued use. It’s a continual loop that traps users in a world of damage. Once you begin this journey, it cannot be easy to return. However, if you’re struggling with addiction, we ask you to please choose addiction treatment as your next choice. At First Steps Recovery, we believe our clients can find true happiness again. From detox to in-patient recovery, we lead users through complete recovery. No one should be a victim of drugs or alcohol. Long-term sobriety is achievable.
Addiction destroys lives and families, despite our best efforts to minimize its effects or make it appear as though it’s not a problem. You won’t regret your decision to seek treatment. To achieve true sobriety, we at First Steps Recovery lead our clients through detox and outpatient care. We assist with early treatment and equip you with the resources necessary to preserve long-term sobriety. Consider taking the initial step toward addiction therapy if you or a loved one is battling damaging habits. We desire to see you free from the harm caused by drug usage. That only happens when you choose health. To learn more about First Steps Recovery, please contact us at (844) 489-0836.
Addiction destroys lives and families, despite our best efforts to minimize its effects or make it appear as though it’s not a problem. You won’t regret your decision to seek treatment. To achieve true sobriety, we at First Steps Recovery lead our clients through detox and outpatient care. We assist with early treatment and equip you with the resources necessary to preserve long-term sobriety. Consider taking the initial step toward addiction therapy if you or a loved one is battling damaging habits. We desire to see you free from the harm caused by drug usage. That only happens when you choose health. To learn more about First Steps Recovery, please contact us at (844) 489-0836.
