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Drug Addiction: A Brain Disease?
Biology 202
2002 First Paper
On Serendip
Drug Addiction: A Brain Disease?
Nicole Pietras
When people hear the words drug addict, these words have negative connotations and stigmas attached to them. People visualize a person who does not care about anything, including family, work, or commitments, except for obtaining money to buy drugs to get high. However, there are many people who are drug addicts that maintain a normal, functioning life. Before we can examine why these people are addicted to drugs, one must first define the word addict.
George F. Koob defines addiction as a compulsion to take a drug without control over the intake and a chronic relapse disorder (1).
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders of the
American Psychiatric Association defined "substance dependence" as a
syndrome basically equivalent to addiction, and the diagnostic criteria
used to describe the symptoms of substance dependence to a large extent
define compulsion and loss of control of drug intake (1). Considering drug addiction as a disorder implies that there are some biological factors as well as social factors.
There are many biological factors that are involved with the addicted
brain. "The addicted brain is distinctly different from the nonaddicted
brain, as manifested by changes in brain metabolic activity, receptor
availability, gene expression, and responsiveness to environmental
cues." (2)
In the brain, there are many changes that take place when drugs enter a
person's blood stream. The pathway in the brain that the drugs take is
first to the ventral tegmentum to the nucleus accumbens, and the drugs
also go to the limbic system and the orbitofrontal cortex, which is
called the mesolimbic reward system. The activation of this reward
system seems to be the common element in what hooks drug users on drugs
(2).
Drugs seem to cause surges in dopamine neurotransmitters and other pleasure brain messengers. However, the brain quickly adapts and these circuits desensitize, which allows for withdrawal symptoms to occur (3). Drug addiction works on some of the same neurobiological mechanisms that aid in learning and memories (3). "This new view of dopamine as an aid to learning rather than a pleasure mediator may help explain why many addictive drugs, which unleash massive surges of the neurotransmitter in the brain, can drive continued use without producing pleasure-as when cocaine addicts continue to take hits long after the euphoric effects of the drug have worn off or when smokers smoke after cigarettes become distasteful." (4)
Since memory and pleasure zones are intertwined in the brain, many researchers have been using psychological approaches to stop drug use. Many rehabilitation centers have used classical conditioning to rehabilitate drug addicts. They combine exposure to drugs combined with cognitive scripts, like statements how drugs have destroyed a person's life or what can be accomplished without using drugs, according to DeLetis (5). By using classical conditioning, the drugs addicts pair the drugs with negative connotations and properties. "Adverse withdrawal symptoms can function as an instrumental negative reinforcer and can be linked to the opponent process theory of motivation." (6) However, drug addicts may relapse and start using again because of many environmental "cues", which are external forces that are associated with drug use in their lives. When the drugs addicts see these cues, their brain circuitry, especially the orbitofrontal cortex become hyperactive and causes these people to start craving drugs again (2). No matter how successful the rehabilitation treatment is, once those "cues" are around, the drug addicts remember how pleasurable the drugs felt and relapse into drug abuse again.
Through all of the research done about drug addiction and its affects on the brain, one can see how drug addiction is considered a brain disease. Drug addiction is a disabling disease and can ruin a person's life. By taking drugs, a person's brain becomes "rewired" to tolerate high amounts of dopamine neurotransmitters, but once those high amounts of dopamine cease to exist, the person experiences withdrawal symptoms. However, there are ways drug addicts can control their drug intake by using classical conditioning techniques, which allows them to associate drugs with negative attributes.
References
1) Neurobiology of Addiction: Toward the Development of New Therapies
2) Addiction Is a Brain Disease, and It Matters
3) Beyond the Pleasure Principle
4) Getting the Brain's Attention
5) Provider Uses Exposure Response Therapy for Addiction
6) Neurobiological Mechanisms of Nicotine Craving
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Comments
friend of crack heads
A friend of mine told me that someone close to some people who've been very close to me for two years told him they are staying up late & smoking crack. I realize this is hearsay but it rings true. They've been working less & less, staying up later, coming to work in the afternoon or at nite or not at all. One of them has a strange odor...which could coincide with the "coca ethylenes" I read about produced in the livers of crack users. I'm in the process of searching public records etc. for hard information. I hope to do an intervention with a relative or two for whom they also do work. Separation looks inevitable but will be dangerous. They know where everything of value to me is & can do a lot of damage. I want to give them a choice of either shaping up or shipping out but realize it's hard to verify the shaping up part. I may have to just say, this is it, leave & I'll just have to face the consequences. From everything I've read, it can only get worse.
I am grateful for the abundance that is mine
I am a recovering crack addict. I have been clean and sober for 15 months and have never felt the feelings that I am feeling today. I had to not only treat my addiction with the 12 steps, but also pray to my higher power, work with a sponser, and go to meetings on a regular basis.
I never thought I would be a mother to my kids, but the program of recovery has helped me to learn how to live life on lifes terms.
Im addicted to amphetamines
Im addicted to amphetamines have been for about 9 years i always made excuses & foolishly believed i would be able to stop if i had to ,i thought until recently i didnt want to .I had a really bad few years with my ex ,father of my 5 children, love of my life ,companion lover & best friend .We were together for 17 years & i am still not really sure what went wrong because we had a perfect life together at one point.It seems a million years ago now & im still full of self pity anger & a sort of grief,my excuse is how am i supposed to beat this addiction when im depressed have 5 children to take care of alone & all that entails , if i dont take it i turn into this horrible monster who i hate so much,i cant function at all so the whole house ends up in turmoil which only makes it even harder to try & motivate myself.I know i am being so selfish but i honestly cant help it,all i want is to be normal to be able to get through the day without having to pump myself full of drugs first,im not living at the min im enduring each day i know its down to me to stop but i dont now how.Every single day is a cycle of taking the drug beating myself up for it feeling guilty feeling like a complete loser letting the kids down ,even though i take it everyday it does nothing but help me to function & not even function normally either, when i think back to times i was at uni while my ex had a good job we had 3 kids a lovely home a car i also had a part time job endless energy & i was happy ,i know i cant go back but i so want a future without the drugs.
i am an addict and i cant find help with in my family any more
i read these forums out of curiosity all the time and pray for others to get away pain free but lets get real thats not possible what i dont understand is how i can find it in my heart to feel for these sick people and not enough for myself and family i have 3 beautiful kids i only have custody of my 2 girls that belong to my husband my baby boy is now living with his dad and grandma i have a lot of health problem especially mental i alway try to find an excuse to get high thoh i admit that here i dont often tell any one thats the case let alone myself i make my self believe i need it to cope with the disfunctional life ive had im 23 now i did my first line of coke at 14 then percocets that just led to heroin im currently off the dope its been 1yr clean from that but i recently just months ago found that i like smoking crack i have done everything to get it i dont remember what normal feels likemy husband helped me get clean the firt time but now he refuses i am almost on my way out the door with him but i would only et worse i love my family and still have time to win my son back if i could just et this devil out of me i cant even see a quarter and try to make a 20 out of it i need help or there will only be one way out i hope some all of youcan find the strength i never found and use it we all have a chance its when we get it do we take it it doesnt come too many times and sometmes its hidden behind the faces of our loved ones and some times it right out in the open ull see it u cant deny these signs from Allah(GOD) we just have to stop ignorin them MY CHANCE CAME ONE TOO MANY TIMES AND I LOOK BACK NOW AND SAY WELL HAVING A BABY AT AYOUN GE WAS SUPPOSED TO TELL ME LIVE FOR THAT BOY NOW BUT I JUT THOUHT THAT WAS ANOTHER SET BACK TO BEING ME NOW I NOW BUT STILL CANT STOP....... ITS TO LATE
Help
You need to find a good Detox program that also offers at least a 30 day in house rehab program to help you. You may need a longer time in rehab, possibly 60 - 90 days. It is not that you do not love your family, it is that you love and need the drug more. The physical feelings for the drugs are so great, that it is the only thing you can think of. It is no longer a need to get high, but a need to maintain and not feel sick. Once you relaize that there is hope out there, and that you family does love you, you will be able to seek the help you so much need. As long as you are alive, there is a hope for recovery, and that is all that any family member wants for their loved one. Good luck to you
My childrens father has been
My childrens father has been on drugs for more then 10 years.He was in jail for 2 years and that seemed to help until he got out and,got right back on the drugs.I thought he really loved his two kids.Christmas and Birthday comes and goes without even a phone call.He does'nt have a car and,he still lives at home with his father.I ask God why or how could I ever fall in love with such a person.I thought I could help him and give him the things he never had to make him see what life was suppost to be.Nothing helped.I just hope for my kids that one day he gets clean.He is a good person but,the drugs has really got a hold on him.I told him until he gets clean and,is stabble he cant see his kids.Because all the broken promises only hurts them not him.My job is to teach my kids not him!!!thank you
Jen
I hear ya, I am in the same boat you are honey, and it sucks, and is so unfair, to everyone involved believe me.
Drug Addiction is harder to overcome than some may think
My sister-in-law is on her way to a Psychiatric Ward for narcotic dependence. She has been thrown in jail twice in on year. She tried to kill herself 7 days ago. When she got out of jail she stayed with us one night because her husband kicked her out again. She said all night all she heard were the voices in her head telling her to find pills. She is a good person, a good mom, and we all love her. Her husbands family feels that she is worthless and stupid and she can control it if she just tried hard enough. I know that is not the case. She has a problem, and without help she won't be okay. When she got out of jail the first time, she was put on 8 years probation, drug tests and none of it mattered. She got away with it for awhile, but then it started escalating again. I believe a lot of it is she feels worthless. Her husband does not support her and try to help her and nobody trusts her because she has stolen from us all. I know that drug abuse is a disease, as I have been addicted to marijuana before and it was hard enough to stop that. When I was on pain pills for my broken hand it was hard to stop taking them because my body built up a dependence. There were 3 days after I stopped taking them that I felt like crap, but I knew that I did not want to end up where my sister-in-law was, so I suffered through it. I only took the prescribed dose, so could you imagine how hard it is to stop taking 5-10 Vicodin or sometimes more a day? She has been addicted to drugs since she was a kid, first given them by a step-father. Ever since she has struggled. She said the only way she thought anyone would help her, besides throwing her in jail, was to try and kill herself. She slashed up her right wrist so bad she couldn't cut her left, yet she got herself to the ER. We live in a small town and jail seems to be the only option. It makes me mad that she felt that the only way to get help was to hurt herself, but it worked. Now she is mandated to go to treatment for up to a year, until a Psychologist tells her she can go. Drug addiction destroys lives, not just those of the addict, but of the family, and I feel that the justice system needs to do more then send them to jail. There are deeper issues than being stupid at work with an addict, and that is what they need help with.
I am a grateful recoverying addict
I have been clean off meth of almost 18 years. Thru the 12 step program (NA)and Christ I am free.
I also use the forum of sover recovery (under forums) as another tool in my toolbox.
If I can do it, anyone can.
Get honest with yourself, google NA and find a meeting in your area. Get phone numbers, find a sponsor and most importantly work the steps and pray!
blessings! Suzanne
Prevention is the best cure.
I don't have any personal experience with drugs, but what I do know some people who just don't realize that the drugs is destroying them. I've tried to talk with them but it's like talking against a wall..Talking helps, but if they are using it for a long time talking won't help anymore...
Prayer
Since you don't have the experience of being on drugs yourself it is hard to listen to someone who doesn't know first hand what an addict goes through or is going through. Don't give up on talking to them. It's what you say is more important. Try being prayerful before you comment on their behavior. No one likes to be criticized in a negative way especially when they already feel somewhat condemned in the first place. God bless you for caring.
Drug Detection times
I have personal experience with both helping myself and helping friends and family with drug addiction. As we all know, people will not change until they are ready for change, but until then we must support them. In the case of young adults or teens I would recommend closely monitoring behavior and providing random drug tests. Using the fear of random drug tests is at least a starting point and while there maybe some trust lost, you will at least be able to begin slowing weening your loved one off drugs.
Is there an answer?
I have a nephew who has become an addict..so far nothing has worked and we are at a loss. He ran away from a court appt, rehab and we do not even know where he is.
I read about and hear about the system letting people down but what answers does anyone have?
I do feel hopeless at times..He is such a good kid, just got mixed up some where. But after so much stealing, lying and such a personality change from the drugs...I don't understand any of it.
That was exactly what he told me that I don't understand..but we have all been willing to do whatever it would take, but it won't work..because he has to want it. How can you want help and to get out of it but keep on going back? It just doesn't seem like he really tried.
We are very worried, and it is so not like him not to have some contact. Now what?
If you can pray please do
If you can pray please do so..
What if you don't believe in
What if you don't believe in any gods?
A LOVING AND CARING POWER GREATER THAN YOURSELF
TODAY WE DON'T HAVE TO CHOSE OUR PARENTS GOD, WE HAVE A CHOICE TO PICK OUR OWN GOD. IT CAN BE WHATEVER YOU CHOSE AS LONG AS IT IS LOVING AND CARING,AND GREATER THAN OURSELVES. GOD IS LOVE SO LOVE SOMETHING OTHER THAN YOU. WE DO RECOVER THE DRUGS HAVE LEFT US WITH A SPIRITUAL VOID, OVER TIME WE LEARN THAT WE ARE NOT IN CONTROL, SO LET GO AND LET GOD DO FOR US WHAT WE CAN'T DO FOR OURSELVES.MY NAME IS ROB AND I'M A RECOVERING ADDICT.
A Practical Guide to God
Dear Robert and others,
You have got it all wrong my friends. God does not belong to us. It is we who belong to God. That is the problem. We think we are all so superior that we have the audacity to choose a god.
If you want to FIND GOD:
1.) Meditate: sit quietly, preferably undisturbed outside where all you see is nature. Nature is the essence of life. This must be done over and over. Do not think you are going to go once and miraculosly get some sort of jolt of enlightenment. God already did the Moses thing. It takes time.
2.) Remember: all the good things that you experienced in your life, especially from your childhood. There are many. Try to remember them. They will give you strength and solace and it is OK to revel in them. It says not all is bad. Love had a place in your life at one time.
3.) Accept evil: opposites exist in the universe. If there is good, there is evil. Accept this. The drug addiction is evil incarnate in you. Not that you are evil. Part of your addiction is biological. It is the lack of faith in yourself that has allowed evil to get the better of you. I believe we all, even the non adddicted, have this innate biological weakness. Why do some overcome and others not? Ask yourself this question.
4.) Life is hard: have you ever seen a poor dove get killed by a hawk? Will you become the dove or the hawk? WIll you lover yourself or hate yourself?
5,) The three road signs to God's house: Faith, Hope and Charity. Look them up in the dictionary. You have seen PLENTY of evil in your life. As long as you yearn for good, you have hope that all will be whole again. Never stop yearning for good. Stop worrying about yourself; worry about the poor stray puppy in the street or the child hungry for the parent. Take them into your heart and focus on things outside of you. Work hard on acts of charity and all of a sudden, you will find yourself out of the trench. Never lose sight of the fact that God is right next to you; literally. We have all seen the sci-fi stuff of parallel universes. So why can't we accept the possibility that right next to us is a parallel universe where God is right next to us?
6.) Surround yourself with positive people and auras. There are a ton of negative people and stuff in this world. There is also a ton of positive people and stuff in the world. Remember that the balance of the universe must always be respected. Good and Evil always exists side by side.
7.) Stop being ashamed of yourself. That is evils way of holding you down. You may or may not believe in Jesus, but remember the parable of "he who casts the first stone"? Go and sin no more He said. All is forgiven. If God can forgive you, then who are you to not forgive yourself?
8.) All people are addicted to something. It is Love that moderates addiction. Accept love and your lives will be moderated. And by the way Love is giving, not taking.
This has been the way for me.
Oh, and prayer.
Acts 2:38 King James Bible
Acts 2:38 King James Bible Repent and Be Baptized everyone of you in the Name of JESUS Christ for the remission of your sins and ye shall recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost.. . . .
Addiction
My daughter is a drug addict. It started when she was prescribed to pain killers at the age of 14. She got them from the orthodontist when she got her braces on. Nice, huh? She's 20 now, did a year in jail, 2 months of rehab and 4 months more in a halfway house, all mandated by the courts. I agree with your article and comments and I have tried to tell people this over and over. Drug addiction is a disease and should be treated as one. I had words with my daughters probation officer once and told him being on Probation doesn't cure addiction. The problem is, we live in a small town, and frankly, the whole judicial system is on a power trip and they don't give up or let up on these kids. They pound them into the ground every chance they get. So, for the next 5 years, my daughter is on parole and will be watched closely. So far, she's clean, and has been out of jail for 15 months. I just have to pray it continues.
she broke the law and needs
she broke the law and needs to pay the price . I AM AN ADDICT MY SELF BEEN CLEAN TWO YEARS WISH HER MANY YEARS OF SOBRIETY.
hay stop and listen to what your saying,
Hay, you have to stop hearing yourself say you cant do it first off. Because what comes out of your mouth your ears can hear and our words either give life or wish death. its written in the word of God.I have 10 years off of meth. So the day I decided to get sober was the day they took my kids.Going to jail was the best thing that happened to me. I will tell you more but I have to go keep in touch. Your not that far away from being who you were meant to be.