Preview

Causes of Drug Addiction

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
4149 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Causes of Drug Addiction
Causes and Effects of Drug Addiction
Drug addiction is a serious illness that affects millions of Americans. If you are one of those millions, or if someone you love shows signs of addiction, reach out for help before it’s too late. You may be someone who just can’t understand how you got into addiction, or you may want to help a friend or family member but you don’t know what to do. Understanding some of the possible causes for abuse, which can lead to addiction, and the effects of addiction on your body can help you move forward in seeking help.
What Leads to Addiction?
Drug addiction is a chronic brain disease with many possible factors – psychological, biological and social – that can increase the risk of addiction. These factors include: * The lack of a healthy, nurturing home environment or the presence of a chaotic lifestyle in childhood has been shown to increase the use of drugs as users seek to obtain a feeling of acceptance and importance. * Influences and activities outside the home environment include inappropriate classroom behavior and association with peers involved in the use of drugs. * Genetics are recognized by many healthcare professionals as a valid cause of substance abuse. * The medicines used to treat medical conditions with pain management or medications for mental diseases can lead to a dependence, abuse and ultimately to addiction.
The Effects of Drug Addiction
Drug addiction, regardless of the types of drug used, has social, psychological and physical effects, such as: * Changes in the structure and function of your brain from drug abuse make it impossible to safely stop using without professional intervention. If you are abusing any drug, whether prescription or illegal, your brain has adapted to its presence. Your body perceives a normal that is established by the dependence on the drug. * Physical effects of drug addiction, depending on the drug, but can include heart rhythm irregularities and heart

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The way that a person may view themselves has a huge impact on the way they go about life. Through school, there are the outgoing students, and there is the quiet students. Students who struggle with school, engaging in class activities, and simply engaging in conversation were the students who seem to have a more difficult time in school. Not caring about school progress shows that you do not care about where you are going after school; as if it does not matter, because you do not matter. The students who were doing drugs and alcohol were the students who did not care about their schooling. People who lack self confidence may feel that they do not matter, that people do not care, they feel insignificant. People may use drugs and alcohol with the result that they feel as if they can do anything; become less concerned of how themselves and others view them. Some substances you feel invincible on, people believe that they can do anything; things that they could not do when they were sober.…

    • 679 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Children raised in households where drugs are frequently used or supported are more likely to use…

    • 1279 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Research Paper SUB606

    • 2721 Words
    • 9 Pages

    People use drugs for a variety of reasons, some may be to self-medicate, to overcome anxiety, to deal with a past that they want to forget, or even just to fit in with a crowd. However, most of the users, initially, do not think or care of the after side effects which could include addiction. There are many factors that come into play on if a person will be more susceptible to addictions such as “heredity, environment, psychoactive drugs and compulsive behaviors” (Inaba & Cohen, 2011).…

    • 2721 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The frontal cortex has become less effective at making decisions and judging the consequences of action. Also as addicts have learnt to associate the drug with pleasure, any attempts to stop taking it will be difficult as the addict will be surrounded by cues and reminders of the drug which would remind them of pleasure and make them more likely to relapse.…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One factor that contributes to substance abuse is a genetic predisposition to drugs such as heroin and meth. Genetic vulnerability plays a big factor in homes of substance abusers. If drugs are present in the home, children will automatically assume that because their parents are avid substance abusers, it is acceptable for them to be as well. The environment that a person is raised in plays a huge role in what they are being exposed to. If a child is raised in an environment where drugs and alcohol are always being consumed, they are more susceptible to follow in the footsteps of the other substance abusers in the home.…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A lot of times there different ways that people go about dealing with addictions. Addictions are a result of drug abuse and dependence on the drug. There are a lot of possible explanations to where addictions come from and their effects on a patient. Addictions were once considered to be a disease but there's more to it than that. Two explanations in particular that can show how drugs are associated with addictions fairly well are the psychological and the biological models.…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Nida Model Of Addiction

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Over 30 years of intensive research has taught us, and NIDA supports, that addiction is a disease of the brain. The NIDA defines drug addiction as "a brain disease characterized by compulsive, at many times uncontrollable, drug craving, seeking, and use that persists despite potentially devastating consequences. Due to controversy over the real definition of this disease, the official medical definition is shorter but shares the same defining factors the disease model proposes. According to…

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Best Essays

    Drug addiction is considered a progressive disease that if left untreated can result in death. When we become addicted we have lost control of the desire and need for the substance. This loss of control causes us to become consumed by the desire and the need for the substance. Addiction produces changes in the brain that cause our behavior to change. This change in behavior is what leads to the loss of control. “This is not something that develops overnight for any individual. Generally there is a series of steps that individuals go through from experimentation and occasional use to the actual loss of control.” (HBO). The progression of this disease has no specific time frame. It differs from person to person. Regardless of time, addiction follows the same path. We become addicted, our disease progresses, and either we get help and recover or we take one of the following options: jail, institution, or death.…

    • 2072 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    NIDA Substance Abuse

    • 1565 Words
    • 7 Pages

    A substance abuse addiction can be described in many ways. The NIDA states that a “drug addiction is a chronic disease”. People abuse drugs despite the many consequences that it can have, especially changes in their brain. The start of any drug addictions begins with the use of taking drugs over time. After taking drugs for an extended period of time, it becomes a compulsive behavior that has major long-term affects on your brain function (NIDA, 2016).…

    • 1565 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    substance abuse paper

    • 579 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Physiologically, drug abuse alter the way people think, feel, and behave by disrupting neurotransmission, the process of communication between brain cells(Carl Sherman,2007). People with drug addiction start to get agitate, they start to forget things, and they tend to indulge in abnormal behavior. People that abuse drugs will even go so far as committing an unlawful crime just to get that high that they are looking for.…

    • 579 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    There has been controversy over the cause of addiction. Historically, it was thought that addiction was caused by lack of willpower, by poverty, moral weakness, mental illness, genetics, family socialization, anti-social personalities, and societal problems. Some scientists believe drug addiction is a disease, although the evidence to support this theory is weak.…

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Addiction: The Disease

    • 1424 Words
    • 4 Pages

    I have often wondered why I turned out the way I did, an addict. I wonder if circumstances in my life influenced or contributed to that first time I decided to alter my state with a drug. Honestly, I don’t think it did. I had a normal childhood, in a loving family. We did not have a lot of money, but we had enough. We ate dinner together every night, we went camping in the summer, and took frequent family vacations. Even though there were no traumatic events to blame, I became an addict. But, I am not alone.…

    • 1424 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Addiction is the continued use of a mood altering substance or behavior despite adverse dependency consequences, or a neurological impairment leading to such behaviors. Addictions can include, but are not limited to, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, exercise abuse, pornography and gambling. Classic hallmarks of addiction include: impaired control over substances or behavior, preoccupation with substance or behavior, continued use despite consequences, and denial. The adolescents and young adults try drugs or other potentially addictive behavior because they are seeking some sort of reward or benefit. Those who take drugs, for instance, do so because of the physical effects they hope to experience. Drugs have a marked effect on the body and mind. If there were no effect, people would be unlikely to repeat the experience. No one sets out just to become addicted.…

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Addiction has long been understood to mean an uncontrollable habit of using alcohol or other drugs. Because of the physical effects of these substances on the body, and particularly the brain, people have often thought…

    • 44692 Words
    • 179 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Whether talking about any drug addiction: alcohol addiction, cocaine addiction, methamphetamine addiction, or even heroin addiction, the pattern is the same,…

    • 4873 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Powerful Essays

Related Topics