Addiction Treatment

Addiction is usually not a problem that rises out of nowhere. It is usually linked to anxiety, or depression and this is known as dual diagnosis. Individuals who are diagnosed are most likely to have these mental issues that run in their family. If the father in the family is an addict it is more likely for the child to learn these habits through observation as an acceptable or harmful coping method. (Pinel). One in every three people diagnosed actually seek help for their addiction. There is a thin line between recreational consumption and addiction.

When you go to rehab for addiction, you make the thing at the forefront of your thoughts: improving. Rehab, as it were, is a narrow-minded thing. Keeping in mind the end goal to prevail at getting sober, you need to concentrate on you. When you leave rehab, you have another life to live, as well as a major chaos to confront. A standout amongst the most imperative wrecks to tidy up after rehab is the relationship mess. You most likely wrecked a wide range of relationships with individuals from your folks to your parents, your companions, and even your

Dopamine (DA) for many years has been understood to be a key neurotransmitter governing the reward response in regards to drug addiction. Dopamine is a catecholamine neurotransmitter which is known to act on five know types of receptors ranging from D1-D5, and is produced is multiple locations of the brain with DA release from the midbrain having a central role in reward and drug dependence (Kim, Inoue et al. 2007) . It has been found that DA levels rapidly change after substance abuse, in which levels of DA are up regulated after administration of a large array of drugs, including that of cocaine, which leads to eventual blunting of the DA levels after prolonged use and onset of the cocaine addiction. A study performed by Martinez and Narendran (2007) had found that individuals who were cocaine dependent had marked reductions in the D2 and D3 receptors binding sites available, with individuals who had more blunted receptors have a positive correlation in selecting a cocaine of a higher dosage. Within the same study it was also found that when subjects were offered a voucher of five dollars or cocaine with a street level less than five dollars, individuals with greater levels of dopamine deficits would still select the cocaine. Findings show the relationship and importance of dopamine and control of maladaptive behaviors related to addiction and inability to change behavior despite understanding

Researchers believe they have found a circuit in the brain that deals directly with drug addiction. Drugs commandeer this circuit, stimulating its activity with a force and persistence greater than any natural reward (Nestler & Malenka, 2004, pg. 2).

It is possible for anything to be an addiction. It doesn't have to be to an illegal substance, or to alcohol, or other questionable activity. So what ever the addiction is that you are wanting to stop know that you an stop it.

Substance addiction can hugely impact on a person’s thinking, functioning and behaviour. Whilst depressant drugs such as alcohol and opioids slow down your central nervous system (CNS), stimulants such as cocaine or amphetamine increase the activity of the CNS, leading to higher blood pressure, heart rate and increased alertness. Repeated abuse of the substance leads to tolerance and withdrawal, in turn this leads to the user showing signs of irrational behaviour. Another form of substance abuse is hallucinogens; they can cause powerful changes in sensory perceptions. It works by binding to the serotonin receptors, these neurons control visual information and emotions, and this can lead to various effects on the user. Neurobiology can help us understand the reasons for addiction and the effects they have on us. Groman and Jentsch (2012) discuss key issues of differentiating the causes and consequences of addiction through neuroimaging and behavioural research on monkeys, they found that the dysfunction of the dopamine

Addiction treatment problems are reaching even further out into society with new synthetic drugs that mimic marijuana, cocaine and many other illegal drugs. These new designer drugs are making users throughout the country very sick, causing seizures, hallucinations and even death. Preventive measures and treatment for these kinds of addictions cannot take place soon enough. These new designer drugs are sweeping the country as hospital admissions and reports to poison control centers dramatically increase.

major contributor to both substance use and the transition from use to abuse (Institute of Medicine, 1996, p.125).

In the past forty years, advances in neuroscience research, brain imaging, neuronal understanding, and discussion of findings in the scientific community and popular media have expanded exponentially. Of particular note is neurobiological research and theory specific to addiction and the addictive process. The American Society of Addiction Medicine was one of the first organizations to utilize neuroscience research in an effort to publicly redefine addiction as “a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory, and related circuitry” (ASAM, 2011). Underscoring this definition is the research itself, that has identified key neurotransmitters in addiction (e.g. dopamine, serotonin, GABA, glutamate), and structural changes in the brains of addicted individuals following prolonged exposure to substances of abuse (Dackis & O’Brien, 2005; Leshner, 1997; Volkow & Baler, 2014).

Drug cues acquire higher motivational value through the process of dopaminergic conditioning (Berridge & Robinson, 1997). Associative learning leads to the reward system developing hypersensitivity for drugs and their associated cues (Robinson & Berridge, 2001). A frequently used behavioural measure of neural sensitivity to drug cues is attentional bias. Attentional bias occurs when an individual is quicker at processing personally relevant information on cognitive tasks, compared to trials which contain neutral information (Macloed, Matthews & Tata, 1986). Attentional bias for drug cues has been consistently documented in smokers, frequent caffeine consumers, drug users and alcoholics (For a review see Field and Cox, 2008). It is thought that attentional bias serves a functional role in maintaining addictive behaviour. Selective attention to drug cues has been shown to underpin approach behaviour and craving (Cox, Klinger & Fadardi, 2016) it is also a robust predictor of relapse (Franken, 2007).

The neuroadaptation theory of addiction outlines that, likewise to the formation of most memories, the exposure to drugs and its abuse induces molecular and cellular adaptions in the brain that may facilitate addiction related memories or unstable addictive mentation. Addiction related memories have been shown to develop faster and last longer than many other types of memories. This suggests that underlying cellular and molecular process is highly sensitive and systematic. Dong Y. and Lee Br. Test the neuroadaptation theory by repeatedly exposing cocaine which resulted in the generation of a large portion of SGS within the nucleus accumbens (NAc), an important site for drug addiction

Relapse is a widely known study used for drug rehabilitation programmes. Relapse is the process of a previously extinct behaviour reoccurring. The increased number of resurgence of drug use leaves behaviourist with questions of the process that’s going behind this and how this could be resolved. Relevant studies are widely interested in why people have resurged back to drug use after they get treatment and experiments have been done starting with rat subjects to pigeon’s subjects to see what actually happens when people resurge back to their old behaviour of drug use or other addictions. There are three types of relapses, which include renewal, reinstatement and resurgence. For this study purpose, we are focusing on resurgence. Resurgence as stated by (Neil E et.al, 2013) is when a previously reinforced behaviour that had undergone extinction returns or resurges when a second behavior that replaced the first one itself undergoes extinction. Extinction on the other hand is commonly defined as when reinforcement of a previously reinforced behavior is stopped, thus causing a decrease in the rate of that behavior” (Cooper et.al, 1987). Thus, when you stop giving reinforcers, the behaviour decreases until it comes to a complete stop and extinction is at play. The Resurgence effects have been suggested as a possible cause of relapse to drug abuse with a decrease in the availability of alternative nondrug reinforcers (Podlesnik et.al, 2006). So, when alternative

In seminar, we discussed the relationship between drug addiction and excessive food consumption. In particular, we remarked that drugs of abuse hi jack the reward pathway that evolved for hedonic food consumption. Drugs such as cocaine cause excess dopamine released in the Nucleus Accumbens, which results in a feeling of extreme pleasure. Over time, the pleasure derived from the drug decreases due to synaptic adjustment and the addict is in a state of anhedonia (lack of pleasure). Chronic drug use is motivated by a compulsive need to administer the drug and avoid anhedonia. Addicts that successfully abstain from the drug, even after a long period of time, are still at risk of relapsing. Drug users report immense drug cravings when they come across cues that remind them of the drug. These environmental cues trigger drug cravings by placing the addict in a state of anhedonia in anticipation of the drug. It is believed that these cue dependent cravings are due to permanent structural changes at the synapses level.

As a result, dopamine's impact on the reward circuit is lessened, reducing the abuser's ability to enjoy the drugs and the things that previously brought pleasure. This decrease compels those addicted to drugs to keep abusing drugs in order to attempt to bring their dopamine function back to normal. And, they may now require larger amounts of the drug than they first did to achieve the dopamine high—an effect known as tolerance.Long-term abuse causes changes in other brain chemical systems and circuits as well. Glutamate is a neurotransmitter that influences the reward circuit and the ability to learn. When the optimal concentration of glutamate is altered by drug abuse, the brain attempts to compensate, which can impair cognitive function. Drugs of abuse facilitate nonconscious (conditioned) learning, which leads the user to experience uncontrollable cravings when they see a place or person they associate with the drug experience, even when the drug itself is not available. Brain imaging studies of drug-addicted individuals show changes in areas of the brain that are critical to judgment, decisionmaking, learning and memory, and behavior control. Together, these changes can drive an abuser to seek out and take drugs compulsively despite adverse consequences—in other words, to become addicted to drugs.

Contextual Conditioning of Drug Tolerance and Drug Addiction Research on the contextual conditioning of drug tolerance shows it is an important factor in understanding drug addiction in humans. Context is a way of noting that the likelihood of a behavior or response depends on certain conditions. C