What´s Prescription Drug Addiction?

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 affects your behavior causing problems for yourself and others around you. There is no cause for addiction. The road to recovery isn’t an easy journey, there is often relapse. Drug addiction continues to rise within our population. Each year the percentage of addicts in America rises. Some addicts want to fix their addiction and they can do so by going to rehab, NA (Narcotics Anonymous) meetings, or seeing a therapist but many fail and continue to use; often adding other drugs to their addiction. You can stop your addiction, but only if you are willing to; you can’t force the addict because then they will resist and continue to use out of rebellion. Getting treated often happens to late, your addiction can go on for years! By the time you try and seek help, a lot of damage has been done; making the road to recovery difficult causing you to want to quit; some addicts quit but others push through. Drug addictions also comes with many risks, including: health, social, and mental health

The meaning of a word portrays what it encompasses and if the phrase itself is misunderstood then defining what it’s trying to explain can be a studious task. Addiction has been defined by many and holds different meanings based on the context it’s used in. Addiction can be defined as a condition in which a person undertakes the use of substance, or engages in activities, which in turn brings pleasure, and tends to divert oneself from their day-to-day duties and responsibilities. Addiction is mostly related to drug use but it is also used to describe non-drug entities, such as gambling, and Internet addictions (Avena et al, 2008). Researchers (Herbert, J. D., Forman, E. M., 2010) have been keen on identifying the factors that lead to

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.

Ideas about addiction have mainly been developed from neurobiological evidence and data from studies of learning behavior and memory mechanisms. They overlap in some aspects and are not mutually exclusive. None of them can explain all aspects of addiction. Generally, addictive drugs can act as positive reinforcers or as negative ones. Environmental stimuli associated with drug use itself can also induce a conditioned response in the absence of the drug.

Most people in today’s world use the word addiction but they do not fully understand the meaning

A more narrow definition of addiction would be to say that it involves a compulsive use of or mind altering acts or substances. With this type of addiction the individual will have usually developed a physical as well as psychological dependence on the behavior. Which will cause and an increased tolerance for the behavior overtime. As time goes on they will need to keep on delving deeper, and

Historically drug addiction has not been treated like other chronic diseases. Society has viewed the illness as being based on the person using drugs/alcohol and concluded that stopping the behavior would end the problem. The reality is that other people who have chronic disorders often require sustained and repeated treatment episodes. Amelia Arria and A. Thomas McLellan (2012) pointed out, “First, viewing addiction as a “bad habit’ or a “sin” has led us to unnecessarily attach antisocial attributes to both the addiction process itself and to those who become addicted. Second, the nature of our traditional treatments for this “condition”-generally short term, educational, and segregated from the rest of medical care–do not comport with the scientific findings showing

The American Psychiatric Association defines addiction as: the failure to resist an impulse, drive, or temptation to perform an act that is harmful to the person or to others (American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc; 2000. text revision (DSM-IV-TR). This definition was not limited to substance abuse addictions.

Many people do not know what causes addiction or why it happens. Addiction can be defined as the condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity. A lot of evidence of drug use shows that there is a lot of contributors that cause addiction. In particular, there is psychological, social, and biological factors that contribute to addiction.

Those who are addicted have rooted all their energy towards pursuing things that are created; rather than pursuing the Creator. If they have a desire to travel the road to total recovery, they must first change their mindset to pursue the Creator. All changes in our lives begins with one simple act, and that is changing our mindset. When those person who are suffering from drug addiction seek out the God of the universe; He will create in

Addiction changes the way the brain processes information. To understand addiction, you first must learn its language—how addiction develops and why addicts continue to use despite the harm it inevitably causes.

Addiction is the term used when a person takes part in an activity, or ingests a substance that gives them pleasure, but then the continuous use of it becomes compulsive and starts interfering with their everyday life. The behaviour of an addict can easily be recognised as it represents confusing human activity. (Shaffer, 1996). These behaviours can include gambling, excessive sexual behaviours, smoking and drug and alcohol abuse.

There is no one theory that sufficiently clarifies addiction. However, theorists define addiction as an entity that deals with one’s mind and emotions. They believe their psychological model of research points to a link between addiction and cognitive behavior which can in turn, lead to negative emotions and reactions (McNeece & DiNitto, 2011, p.26).

Though the treatments for drug addiction is complicated one, it is curable. The treatment is complicated because the addiction has it’s long term effects on the brain and behavior of the person. But if the person has strong determination, consistent on treatment then it make easy to quit the addiction.