Reason For Being Addicted

Cocaine, heroin, methamphetamines, alcohol, opium, tobacco, hypnotics, just to name a few. Addiction is a chronic disease that affects the chemicals in the brain. It dysfunctions the circuits in the brain that deal with memory, reward, sex, motivation, behavior, relationships and emotions all mostly resulting in substance use or other behaviors to fulfill those circuit rewards. This world is in a current addiction epidemic on drugs. Let’s try to understand addiction to make it a little clearer.

Addiction is something that occurs when you become dependent on a substance or activity. When people are overwhelmed, things can become too hard to handle which can lead to addiction. The addiction then takes over their body and they can not control it, they are always craving what they are addicted to and using it to cope which makes them stop thinking straight. People are worried about things that are not in their control such as their environment, culture, friends and family which can make people develop an addiction. In the novel Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden, Elijah and Xavier turned to morphine when things got hard in the war. Both Elijah and Xavier were stressed with the pressures of the war. Many factors influenced Elijah and

Addiction claims the user through physiological dependence that creates a need for the drug of choice on a very basic level. Through repeated substance abuse, the user gains tolerance for the drug, needing it in larger amounts, and on a more frequent basis, until the body cannot function normally without the drug. Withdrawal symptoms now also occur upon attempting to halt use. This is how substance abuse becomes the disease of addiction.

Addicts use drugs to overcome their feelings. If an addict is feeling sad, happy, or angry, they use. This leads to their addictions. After a while, the addict can’t hold a steady job,

Addiction is happening due to the addictive property of the drug, opiates attach to the body’s receptors that reduce the perception of pain. Although, the addiction must start somewhere, and it typically begins with a prescription written by a doctor. Over prescription and greedy drug companies are believed

Addiction is a physical and or a psychological dependence on a mood altering substance or behavior that is continued despite negative consequences. In Gerald G. Mays’ book Addiction & Grace

Addiction is when a person cannot stop abusing a drug or substance, even if they want to quit. The effects from continuing drug use take over the mind and body. Drug addiction is classified as a "relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences to the drug addict and those around them" (NIDA 4). Repeated drug use leads to addiction, which then leads to a disease that changes the brain (CDC).

Addiction, to a layman, is an insane attraction or out of control (being hooked) towards a substance, event, person or an activity in an attempt to escape or avoid emptiness, meaningless, monotonous, boredom, loneliness etc, etc in life. Something that normal people found impossible to understand or comprehend. Advice (gentle or harsh), scolding and even beating would not deter them.

The word addiction is used in very many ways. One would be physical addiction. This is a biological state where the body adapts to a drug and that drug no longer has the same effect, this

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

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.

The disease of addiction is a three, fold it affect you physically, mental, spiritually and I would have to say emotional. This disease can manifest in anyone of these area at different time individual life.

Once a person starts to abuse drugs or alcohol, their body becomes addicted to the euphoria they experience, leaving them craving more. The more a person craves a substance, the more they are willing to do

Addiction is a compulsion obsessed by taking drug for a longer period of time. This may lead to increased body tolerance to the specific drug substance and may also lead in loss of control on withdrawal. Addiction could be referred as being a behaviour of dependence and not as a disease or illness (Edwards, 1982). It is further referred to be defined as a repeated use of a drug or a substance despite knowing about the harms which can occur as a result of using it.

The most common question asked is why do people take drugs? There are many reasons to why people take drugs, and the most influenced reasons is peer pressure, depression, stress, to experiment, and to escape the reality of life. For many people, a drug gives them the satisfaction of wanting to feel happy, relaxed, and a rush of energy but in other cases like depression and stress it takes away their ability to feel the emotions carried on from their discomfort. According to The National Institute on Drug Abuse it is stated, “All drugs of abuse excite the parts of the brain that make you feel good. But, after you take a drug for a while, the feel-good parts of your brain get used to it … Soon, your brain and body must have the drug to just feel normal”. Therefore, causing the drug addiction to take control of a person natural state. More so, making