In everyone’s life, there is a moment that they try drugs or alcohol for the very first time by choice. Addiction is a behavior based on physical and psychological dependent of a drug substance. Addiction is also known as an illness, a disease. It does not make a person bad, just a person in need of help to overcome. Behind people’s actions, there is a reason why, why they have decided to try a substance for the first time.…
In the first part of this essay, Mate comments on the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver, indicating that it is known as the area in Canada most heavily populated by addicts. He states that much of the addict population also struggles with mental illness. He explains the role of methadone in quelling painful withdrawal from opiates, going on to provide an anecdote of the effect of an opiate drug on the user from one of his clients: “The first time I did heroin…it was like a warm, soft hug.” (Mate, 273) Several scientific pieces of evidence provide reasons for susceptibility to addiction both biologically and emotionally. He indicates that certain neurotransmitters are required to self-soothe and control pain, stating that “Infant rats who get less grooming from their mothers will have fewer natural benzo receptors in the part of the brain that controls anxiety. “ (Mate 275) He says that humans require the same consideration in regards to stimulation of receptors in the brain, stating that the less an infant receives stimulation that triggers a release of endorphins, the greater the likelihood of addiction.…
Katie is a 35-year-old professional woman, wife and mother of two small children. Katie was first introduced to pain medications after a car accident left her with an injured lower back. The pain medications she took, began a neurobiological response in Katie’s brain that she had no control over. Narcotics take aim at the brains reward system, saturating it with dopamine, giving the user a feeling of pleasure (“Drug Abuse, Addiction, and the Brain,” n.d. p. 2). Katie’s brain began to acclimate to the dopamine surges. Which in turn, the brain generates less dopamine and or decreases the dopamine receptors. This made Katie use more and more drugs, to continually try and attain the dopamine high (“Drug Abuse, Addiction, and the Brain,” n.d. p. 2) Brain imaging studies show that areas of the brain that regulate judgement, behavior control, learning and memory are affected by drug addiction. These changes create the abuser to seek out and take drugs compulsively (“Drug Abuse, Addiction, and the Brain,” n.d. p.1). This began Katie’s addiction to prescription pain medications.…
For many years, individuals have battled substance abuse and addiction. My position comes from hearing about it, having seeing results from it, and reading about it, also developing my own thoughts about addiction. Weil and Rosen (1993) believe that a drug use (and addiction) results from humans longing for a sense of completeness and wholeness, and searching for satisfaction outside of themselves. McNeece and DiNitto (2012) says the reason why people continue to use drugs to the point of becoming a physically and/ or psychologically dependent on them are more complex, some have tried to explain this phenomenon as a deficit in moral values, a disease, conditioning or learned behavior, or as a genetic prosperity. Still some see it as a “rewiring” of the brain (Mc Neece & DiNitto, 2012). At this point, there is no one single theory that adequately explains addiction (McNeece & DiNitto, 2012).…
Drug abuse and addiction.” Pamphlet by: National Institute on Drug Abuse. National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2007Retrieved from; Gale virtual reference library…
Millions of Americans tend to abuse the use of illegal drug, and regularly become reoccurring drug addicts. Drug addiction in the use of illegal drugs can exceed more than a billion dollars annually in the United States alone. Drug abuse can also affect health including mental disorders that are described to be a destructive pattern of using a substance that leads to important problems. Drug abuse is known to lead to problems involving withdrawal which occurs in heavy users of substances. Withdrawal is medically known to last days to weeks at times; depending on how long the individual has been involved in the drug usage.…
Although people have been using and abusing substances for as long as these substances have existed, the study of of addictions with the exception of alcoholism did not really emerge until the 1960's-1970's. Through out the last decade multiple changes to how addiction is viewed have occurred. Due to advances in the medical field and a better understanding of the chemistry of the brain addiction is now viewed as a disease instead of just a lack of morals. Because of the prevalence of wide spread usage of opiods, cocaine, and marijuana in the 60's and 70's more comprehensive research was deemed necessary to not only treat but effectively prevent drug addiction and alcoholism. It was also during this time frame that different classes of substances were created and we see a shift in how drug offenders were handled from the once harsher punishments to required treatment programs.…
After decades of discussion and argument surrounding the origin and nature of substance abuse, it has finally gained acceptance by the psychiatric community as a mental disorder. The DSM-5 refers to 10 categories within the diagnosis of substance use disorder (SUD), acknowledging that each “[class is] not fully distinct” (481). In other words, while each drug class mentioned in the manual features unique qualities, those qualities may overlap. Mental illness and substance abuse are also engaged in the dance of blended borders. An article published in the International Journal of Mental Health gives evidence of their study across a group of 325 individuals with SUD. From this interaction, 38% of these individuals also suffer a co-occurring disorder (COD). Citing discrepancies among the categories, the data points to a higher instance of heroin use in participants who were in the SUD group, choosing this over stimulants versus the COD group who exhibited a preference for methamphetamine and cocaine over opioids (Shield et al. 798). The DSM-5 concurs, showing in “Table 1 Diagnoses associated with substance class” that stimulants are likely to be associated with eight of nine diagnoses with onset during intoxication or withdrawal and includes statistics showing that opioid use is associated with only five of these same disorders (482). Van Wormer and Davis expound on the problem of defining the difference between SUD and COD by citing author Denning who says, “some clinicians in the substance abuse treatment field note that it is rare to uncover a normal, well-adjusted, average person hiding under a serious addiction because the addiction in and of itself takes a heavy psychological and emotional toll” (155). They go on to explain that each scenario, like each disorder, is uniquely…
With individuals who are addicted to a substance or habit decision making is abnormal (Fecteau, 2010). When an addict partakes in the substance they are addicted to there is often a rush or feeling of relief. If an addict is attempting to quit using a substance, they often attempt to obtain a similar feeling of satisfaction. Typically recovering addicts turn to risky decision making due to the fact that when one makes a risky choice the two experiences share similar behavioral sensations (Fecteau, 2010). Understanding how addicts make decisions based on their addiction is crucial in planning treatment options in order to suppress drug cravings in substance abusing patients.…
The psychological model includes cognitive behavioral theories, psychodynamic theories, and the learning theory. Cognitive-behavioral theories associate a person’s motivation for taking drugs with their need for variety (McNeece & DiNitto, 2012). People often look for fulfillment and pleasure as they carry out their day-to-day responsibilities, thus finding chemical substances a way to escape reality or a reward. Psychodynamic theories suggest more complex explanations are the reason behind drug addiction. Childhood experiences and structure within the family determine a person’s ability to cope socially and emotionally. Thus, the person uses drugs to forget about the pain or provide a false sense of security. Finally, the learning theory of addiction implies that people learn over time and exposure to drugs that anxiety, tension, and stress all decrease with use, becoming a reinforcer for the user (McNeece & DiNitto, 2012). Each of theories explain addiction in terms of a malfunctioning thought…
In the article The Addiction Paradox: Drug Dependence Has Two Faces - As A Chronic Disease And A Temporary Failure To Cope, the author talks about research that shows addiction as a disease or a temporary failure to cope. In the article Neurobiology Of Addiction Versus Drug Use Driven By Lack Of Choice, the authors talk about the study of neurobiology of addiction and how addiction and the different choices drug users can make. In the article New Medications For Drug Addiction Hiding In Glutamatergic Neuroplasticity, the authors talk about how addiction is needing more attention and they also talk about new treatment for addiction. In the article The Army Disease: Drug Addiction And The Civil War, the author talks about how addiction was a big problem during the civil war but in that time drug addiction was not fully understood.…
The development of addictions occurs when the individual is able to achieve a continuous and instant positive change in feeling during use of or participation in the addictive behavior (O 'Brien, Childress, Ehram, & Robbins, 1998). In the study of drug and alcohol addiction the compulsion or habit is not dependent on the existence of the drug or alcohol in the…
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…
It is shown that prescription drug abuse is a disease of the brain that can be treated effectively if it is predominate in pharmacological and behavioral treatments. Treatment is based specifically on the drug of choice and the individual. Treatment is individualized and therefore can be more effective. According to National Institute on Drug Abuse, “behavioral treatment provides strategies to help function without drugs, deal with food cravings, and avoid drug situations that could lead to relapse” (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2013). Forms of treatment focus on different areas that are cognitive and physical in response to prescription drug abuse. Within behavioral treatment counseling is used for family, and individual counseling that help people coincide with their personal relationships within the…
The social effects of opiate addiction are felt by those who may have never even seen more than an image of heroin. For example; “In an early study, for example, Inciardi reported that a cohort of 239 male heroin addicts from Miami committed 80,644 criminal acts during the 12 months before being interviewed (Inciardi, 1979).”. (Strain and Stitzer, 2006) In part, this is due to the problems associated with the severe withdrawal symptoms that begin about 18 hours after the last use, and the result that addicts will do almost anything to avoid them. These include sweating, vomiting, insomnia, cold sweats, pain in the limbs, yawning, sneezing, severe bone and muscle aches, diarrhea, stomach cramps and fever.…