CNDS Theory

Addiction is a chronic brain disease that often results in some sort of relapse. Addiction is characterized by inability to control drug use which results in problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships. This disease causes compulsive behaviors such as the need to use drugs despite the many harmful consequences that affect the addicted individual and those around him or her. Although for most people, the initial decision to use drugs is a one time lapse in judgement, the brain is easily affected by these drugs if the person decides to use these drugs multiple times. The changes that occur to the brain over time will cause the addicted person’s ability to resist the intense impulses of drugs to be altered causing the addict to often give into the temptation of these drugs. Like other chronic diseases, addiction often involves cycles of relapse and remission. Without treatment or engagement in recovery activities, addiction is progressive and can result in disability or premature death. Drug addiction is an issue that many people deal with whether they are the addict or the addict is their loved one; but with a good source of support anyone can over come the challenges and consequences of addiction.

There are thousands of people in the United States that are addicted to cocaine and are left untreated. Many of them are at risk of severe health problems. I am conducting this research paper to compare and contrast the differences between the effectiveness of drug courts and cognitive behavioral therapy for cocaine addicts. We know that all people respond differently to therapy than others do, but it is good to be able to find the effectiveness and success rate of cognitive-behavioral therapy, and drug courts overall. But before we jump into the effectiveness of CBT, we need to know what the goal of CBT is and what the process is for CBT. Not only do we need to know the effectiveness and success rates of these two, but we also need to

Substance use disorder is not a brain disease, and it will be proven in this paper. Drugs are addicting, and habit forming. Does this make it a brain disease? There can be many different brain diseases, including infections, seizures, trauma, tumors, etc. People could become dependent on a drug the first time they use it, or after chronic use. It really depends on their tolerance to that particular drug. The fact-based accounts from recovered addicts commonly point to the role of monetary and family apprehensions, that is, possibilities other than those directly connected to obtaining and taking drugs, as being main features in their termination of drug exploitation. They basically have an alternative choice that changes from abuse of a drug

Impulsivity is frequently observed in addictive behaviours, particularly in drug abuse (Perry & Carroll,2008), and research shows that drug users are more impulsive than non-drug users (Brady et al.,1998). Alcoholics value more immediate rewards in delay discounting tasks (Petry, 2001), as

The reflective system is located in the prefrontal cortex and signals the pleasure or pain of future prospects (Bechara, 2005). While drugs make users more impulsive, those with pre-existing imbalances will experience more intense changes. The impulsive system rises to the forefront of decision making. Therefore, rather than take the control that an experimenter would, the individual slides into addiction. Since this is not a commonly occurring neurochemical state, it explains why only a fraction of drug users will fall into addiction. It also gives credit to the hypothesis that it is uncontrollable, much like a passionate

The point of this article is establish ties between drug-addiction and deficiencies in the brain that regulate impulse control. The article shows that through the testing of drug-addicts brains and comparing their brain functions to those of their non-addicted siblings revealed that the deficiencies present in the drug-addicts also existed in the non-addict siblings, suggesting that drug addiction is hereditary. The article goes on to say that if that is true, it serves as a basis for the prevention of drug addiction since the non-addict siblings were able to exert some level of control over their impulses and not become addicted to drugs.

Dopaminergic system: One of the main neurobilógicos systems involved in addiction to cocaine is the brain reward system (brain reward pathway), and dopamine its most important neurotransmitter (Koob, Le Moal, 1997). The dopaminégicos brain neurons that circuit are preferably located in the ventral tegmental area, projecting above for the nucleus accumbens and the prefrontal cortex (Tzschentke, 2001). The liberation of dopamine in these areas is involved with reward and positive reinforcement for certain type of behavior is well known that the action of cocaine causes such effect. Physiologically, these brain regions are activated when the individual performs a behavior closely related to their survival or their species, for example, to feed, quench thirst, have sex, take care of younger individuals. When cocaine increases dopamine release in these brain regions of reward, the body misinterprets the drug is related to their survival mechanisms, going to seek it incessantly (Koob, Le Moal, 2001). As mentioned, substance dependence relates also to the psychological profile of the consumer and to the environment where it is inserted. Adolescence is a difficult time for a large

Cocaine, cannabinoids, opioids, alcohol and nicotine are the drugs of abuse that are recurrently used. Most of these drugs can alter a person’s thinking and judgment, leading to health risks, including addiction. Over the past 30 years, it has shown that drug addiction is a chronic, relapsing disease that causes compulsive drug seeking, which embeds behavioral and social-context aspects that are important parts of the disorder itself. Thus, the treatment approach includes biological, behavioral, and social-context components.

Multiple brain functions can be altered also. Cocaine affects pathways that respond to stress which can lead to relapse and continual use to numb the stress. Continual use causes desensitization, which makes someone less likely shock or distress at scenes of cruelty, and violence. Cocaine alters the function of the Limbic system which controls the ability to feel pleasure. “Feeling pleasure leads us to repeat behaviors” (Cocaine).

Over the last decades, addiction has been debated as an immoral, and deliberate choice wrecking the lives of the addicted and those around them. However, public health organizations, doctors, rehabs, and twelve step fellowships call it a disease. A disease that can occur in anyone's lives. It attacks our politicians, entertainers, family, friends, and ourselves. A debilitating disease that takes addicts well-beings, self-control, and even their lives. In the last few years research has shown scientific evidence of changes in the brain structure and function that parallel substance abuse. Genetics studies reveal heritable traits that predispose people to addiction. Addiction is a progressive, relapsing disease that requires intensive treatment,

One myth about addict users is that addicts can stop if they really want to. Research shows that brain chemistry is effected when substance use is used for a long period of time (White, n.d.). Because of the changes in brain chemistry, craving occur along with impulse control and this leads to addiction (White,

No effective pharmacological therapy currently exists for treating cocaine dependence. Meini et al (2011) suggested that aripiprazole and ropinirole may be successful arbitrators. They therefore conducted a quantitative study in order to determine the safety, tolerability and the effects of these drugs on 28 patients. The patients each possessing cocaine dependence - were randomly chosen, given the drugs, and their conditions carefully controlled for 12 weeks. A diagnostic assessment was performed using the ICD-9-CM criteria and the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Three other tests were also administered at baseline and weekly throughout the study. These were: the Clinical Global Impression Scale, a Visual Analogue Scale that assessed craving, and a self-report survey that monitored patients' use of cocaine. Urinalysis was carried out three times per week in order to investigate existence of benzoylecgonine (indicating cocaine dependence).

These similarities indicate that the addiction development is linked to neuroplasticity (von der Goltz and Kiefer 2009). Neuroplasticity mechanisms are linked to different neurocognitive phenotypes (Contreras-Rodríguez et al. 2015). For instance, impulsivity has been linked to ventral striatum neuroadaptations, and compulsive habits are associated with the shift to control of the dorsal striatum and insula networks (Contreras-Rodríguez et al. 2015). Moreover, dopamine plays a role in processing reward prediction and eventually in the understanding of addictive disorders as a learning model. This is a result of dopamine’s ability to increase memory association therefore, blocking of the dopaminergic transmission decreases this

The article, High Impulsivity Predicts the Switch to Compulsive Cocaine-Talking, sought to determine whether impulsivity and novelty-seeking (which are behavioral markers of addictive drugs) place individuals in the vulnerability of compulsive seeking of the drug. The researchers used laboratory rats to test the vulnerability. Researchers found that high reactivity to novelty predicted the likelihood of rats seeking cocaine self-administration. However, high impulsivity seemed to predict the development of addiction like behavior in the laboratory rats. The results obtained by researchers has changed the perspective from the impulsivity aspect of drug use towards the compulsivity factor during the initial stages of addiction development. Interestingly, the compulsive factor can be generated through neural physiology (i.e. neural mechanisms or diminished function of cortical function).

Thus, present consumption is tied to health-related, social, and economic costs of future consumption. It is therefore reasonable to assume that substance use is associated not only with discounting of future gains, but also with discounting of future costs. Furthermore, substance use and substance use problems have been associated with a range of impulsiveness traits (e.g., Miller & Lynam, 2013), some of which measure a lack of concern for future consequences.