Causes Of Drug Addiction

First of all, there is the Structural-Functional perspective way people view drug addiction as. The structural-functional perspective is the role the drugs do for the person or the weakening of the norms. It is the way they affect the person and what it does to them that makes them be addicted to drugs. For some people drugs relieves them. It takes them away from their problems from a while and they feel stress free and because of that feeling they receive from the drugs they like it and continue to take more and more. Those with this type of perspective well most likely disagree with this view of drug addiction and would want the problem to decrease.

To understand addiction further, it is important to look at how drugs have neurological effects in a human body. Drugs can be ingested in various ways; while some are taken orally, some are smoked (cannabis) while others are injected directly into the blood stream (Heroin). Once in the body, they mainly affect the reward pathway in the brain, known as the dopaminergic pathway, which in turn gives pleasure. Even though all drugs affect the reward and motivation pathways in the brain, their speed depends on the way the drug has been consumed. Over constant use of drugs, the cognitive functions are impaired as the effects become more prominent in learning, memory

Drug addiction is a brain disease because drugs change the brain’s structure and how they work. Over a period of time drugs start to affect the brain by challenging an addicted person’s self-control and interfere with their ability to resist intense urges to take drugs. “Most drugs affect the brain's reward circuit by flooding it with the chemical messenger dopamine. This overstimulation of the reward circuit causes the intensely pleasurable "high" that leads people to take a drug again and again. Over time, the brain adjusts to the excess dopamine, which reduces the high that the person feels compared to the high they felt when first taking the drug—an effect known as tolerance. They might take more of the drug, trying to achieve the same dopamine high.”, States National Institute on Drug Abuse. After long term use of drugs it affects functions such as learning, judgment, decision-making, stress, memory, and behavior. Even though an addict knows this, they still use

The addict’s brain becomes overridden and continuously wants the substance which it craves. Help Guide.org produced an article titled “Understanding Addiction”. The article reads as following, “Addictive substances and behaviors stimulate the circuit then overload it. In nature rewards usually come only with time and effort. Addictive drugs and behaviors provide a shortcut, flooding the brain with dopamine and other neurotransmitters”(Understanding Addiction 1). In other words, when the brain is pleasured it feels rewarded. Normally rewards are earned, but the use of substances provides a rewarded feeling to the brain. Neurobiology is the biology of the nervous system.This research is what provides us with the information on the brain being taken over. The brain is broken up into several sections. Research has shown there to be certain genetic codes that vary from addiction to addiction. These codes can inform people what the brain’s drug of choice may or may not be. No one certain factor can determine if a person becomes addicted or not. For example, the AI allele of the dopamine receptor gene DRDR is mainly found in those addicted to alcohol or cocaine. Another example is that those with high stress level hormones have been noted to have an increased risk for addition. Individual differences have also shown to meter the effectiveness of a drug on a person. One study compared two sons, one of the son’s father's was a alcoholic and the other son’s father was not. Neither son drinks, but when given alcohol the son of the alcoholic seemed to have a higher tolerability to the alcohol than the son of the non alcoholic father. Obviously the son of the alcoholic has genes from his father that cause alcohol not to affect him as much, and this can lead to him over drinking and becoming an alcoholic

Drugs are addictive because, the drugs cause a ..."long-lasting chemical change in the brain." Without a dose of drugs, the brain has low chemical levels and the drug user is suffering a crave to "refill" the chemical levels. The drug abuser feels "...flat, lifeless and depressed." if they don't get another dose, so they take another dose to fulfill their emptiness and feel better. In summary, drugs are addictive for many reasons, and users crave drugs to fulfill needs.

Throughout the world so many people become addicted to drugs, they try to hide and numb their feelings through the use of drugs. Just because people use drugs once, it does not mean they will automatically become addicted to the substance. There are actually only a small number of drugs that people take compulsively, which consist of alcohol, narcotics, nicotine, marijuana, and others. The more you consistently you use a drug the easier it is for your brain to become addicted to that substance. It becomes so comfortable and used to the feeling while under the influence that it begins to think the brain needs the substance to function.

Drug addiction is a very complicated illness. People have a compulsive and uncontrollable urge to keep using the substance. Addiction affects many circuits in the brain, including the ones that are involved in memory, learning and reward.

Most people try drugs the first time because of peer pressure and not having the strength to say no, others is because they want to try new things and be cool with a certain group of kids at school. All it takes sometimes is one time, one pull, and one session for someone to get hooked to a certain drug and be an addict. Drug addiction has a deep impact on the brain that can cause the inability to learn, make good judgment, and alters vision and memory. Addiction is chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences to the addicted individual and to those around him or her. (National Institute on Drug Abuse) The components of drug addiction are endless. They usually contain chemicals that tap into the brain’s communication system and disrupt the way nerve cells normally send, receive, and process information. The

Thank you for having me here today to speak with you on he effects of drug abuse on the brain. Drug abuse or addiction is characterized by compulsive drug craving, seeking, and use that persists even in the face of negative consequences. Overtime a persons ability to chose not to take drugs is compromised. Drugs of abuse are able to interfere with the normal communication of the brain

In order to determine whether or not addiction is a brain disease, the brain of addicts must be looked at. Most addictions, both behavioral and substance, deal with the regions of the brain that are associated with dopamine release. Dopamine works in a small area of the brain known as the nucleus accumbens. The nucleus accumbens is also central for attention and habit formation. When functioning normally, the brain rewards us for normal activities such as eating. Dopamine levels when eating are measured and released slowly. However, certain activities and drugs cause the dopamine to be released at a far more rapid rate. This causes what is known as the state of being high. As an addict continues to abuse the drug or activity, the brain reduces the number of dopamine receptors. This causes the person to experience what is known as a crash when the effects begin to die down. This crash can lead to the addict feeling lethargic and depressed. In order to avoid this crash, addicts will continue to use the drug to stay high. However, the longer the person is using the drug or activity, the harder it will become to achieve the level of high they are looking for. This can lead to addicts upping their dosage or even

Drugs can effect the dopamine center of your brain causing people to become addicted to it. Drugs release dopamine so they feel good and want more. When you become addicted to drugs and keep taking them you are destroying your body like when you take heroine you are dumping tons of chemicals into you. If you continue to take heroine you will eventually cause your dopamine receptors to shut down and you won't be able to feel pleasure again. Doing Drugs can also effect your memory and

Drugs are chemicals that interfere with nerve cells, neurons, that are placed within the brain. Drugs, such as Cannabis and Heroin, hack into the communication system and tamper with how the neurons process, seize, and hand out information. The brain is a living organ with a function just like any other organ in the body; the brain is the control room of the system. With the use of drugs and damaging the control room, the body slowly starts to shut down and take a lengthy time to process ideas in the mind. The addiction works a little like this: dopamine-embracing neurons broadcast messages containing information about pleasure through their nerve fibers to nerve cells in a limbic system structure labeled the nucleus accumbens.

Drug addiction is a brain disease caused by the chronic use of a drug which changes the structure and function of the brain. ("Drug Abuse, Addiction, and the Brain", 2016) There are many myths and misconceptions about addiction. Some, if not all, of which inevitably makes it harder for the person who is suffering to regain control and break the evil chain that has got them bound. Myths like he/she doesn’t want to quit, he/she doesn’t need help they just need to stop, and he/she is choosing their addiction over their family and friends. All of these myths are untrue. In fact, many people facing the awful reality of addiction are well aware that they are addicted, in over their heads, and trapped. They also realize that their addiction is costing them very valuable relationships and they are helpless to stop everything in their life from ending up in the gutter.

According to Webster's New World Medical Dictionary, 3rd Edition, “Addiction is a chronic relapsing condition characterized by compulsive drug-seeking and abuse and by long-lasting chemical changes in the brain. Addiction is the same irrespective of whether the drug is alcohol, amphetamines, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, or nicotine. Every addictive substance induces pleasant states or relieves distress. Continue use of addictive substances induces adaptive changes in the brain that lead to tolerance, physical dependence, uncontrollable craving and, all too often, relapse. Dependence is at such a point that stopping is very difficult and causes severe physical and mental damage from withdrawal (WILLIAM C. SHIEL JR., 2008).

Have you ever dealt with the effects of drug addict? A drug is a person who is addicted to drugs or alcohol, which has a psychological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body. The effects of drug use can vary depending on the person. According to “Causes and types of narcotic addiction: A Psychosocial View” in the Psychiatric Quarterly it says, “The causes of drugs stem from the manner of which you were introduced to it whether it be by abnormal curiosity, chance encounters with addicts and narcotic peddlers, or prolonged illness” (Ausubel). The effects of drugs can be have different effects on everyone differently depending if its for pleasure or for relieving pain Most of the effects of drugs occur in the brain, where it increases the level of dopamine at a specific site possibly giving the addict the pleasure they were feigning for (Robbins). As a child I didn’t know much about drugs except for what your parents and teachers at school tell you which is, “Just Say No.”