...Addiction: Disease, or Self-Inflicted Destruction? Drug addiction is a large problem in today’s society. There’s an ongoing debate on whether drug addiction is a choice or if it is truly a disease. Addiction is a sickness because it is common among people who suffer from mental illness, it is an actual brain disease due to the lack of dopamine in certain individuals and, it is damaging the body without the abuser even knowing. however, most people believe it is a choice because the first time somebody agrees to just try it once they are hooked for life. People who suffer from drug addictions brains are severely affected. Drug “ addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use” (Is...
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...Addiction is the compulsion to do something. There are two major types of addiction mental/psychological and physical/chemical. I) Physical dependency ~ Is when a person has a chemical addiction to something normally to induce pleasure. Often the substance has withdrawal effects. After some time the substance is used to relieve the anxiety caused by the absence of the chemical. People explain that coming off the “high” makes them feel so low that they want more just to feel normal. A) Alcohol ~Approximately 14 million Americans (7.4%) suffer from alcohol abuse or addiction. Alcoholism can: 1) Reduce life expectancy by 10 to 15 years. 2) Destroy brain cells, possibly leading to brain damage. 3) Hinders the ability to retrieve, consolidate, and process information. 4) Can affect cognitive abilities. 5) Interfere with the oxygen supply of the brain causing a blackout when totally drunk. 6) Inflame or cause cancer in the mouth, esophagus, and stomach. 7) Produce irregular heartbeats, high-blood pressure, and heart attacks. 8) Harm vision. 9) Damage sexual function. 10) Can cause skin and pancreatic disorders, weaken the bones and muscles. Most alcoholics struggle with it their entire life. Even one drink can cause an alcoholic to become addicted even if they have been sober for twenty years. B) Nicotine ~ This addictive drug found in tobacco gives a person pleasure and euphoria by increasing the levels of dopamine within the reward circuits...
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...This issue brings up our topic of discussion; does Tiger Woods, along with many other civilians, truly have disease classified sex addiction, or was this just a scam to cover up his indecent morals? The definition of a disease is a condition of the human body that impairs proper functioning and is indicated by signs or symptoms that did not result from a physical injury. Scientists have spent years studying the signs and symptoms of humans with a normal sexual pattern, as well as those with an addiction to sex. You might be wondering,...
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...Drug Addiction a Disease by Choice “Drug addiction, also called substance use disorder, is a dependence on a legal or illegal drug or medication. Keep in mind that alcohol and nicotine are legal substances, but are also considered drugs.” (Mayo Clinic, “Drug Addiction” 2014, para.1). There needs to be an understanding that addiction is a disease. “When scientists began to study addictive behavior in the 1930s, people addicted to drugs were thought to be morally flawed and lacking willpower”. (National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction” 2014, para.1). This formed society’s reaction to drug abuse, treating it as a choice not a disease. In today’s world scientist have changed our views on addiction. The findings about the brain have given scientists an understanding on addiction. The initial choice to try drugs is intentional for most people, but overtime the brain changes and a person’s self-control hinder their ability to resist impulses to use drugs. “Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences” (National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Drugs Abuse, and Addiction” 2014, para.1). Drugs change the brains structure and how it works. Drugs contain different chemicals that interfere with communication in the brain; such as sending, receiving and processing information. Drugs such as marijuana have similar chemicals as messengers in the brain which...
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...Causes and treatment of addiction Addiction Overview The current model to explain addiction suggests that addiction begins with the basic pleasure and reward circuits in the brain, which involve the chemical dopamine. These reward centers are designed to activate during pleasurable acts such as eating. Whenever ingesting a substance causes these reward circuits to activate, addiction and dependence is possible. However, addictive behaviors that are considered damaging or destructive have characteristics that distinguish them from normal behavior (see common characteristics of destructive addictions. Examples of common destructive addictions are alcohol intoxication, alcoholism, cocaine abuse, drug dependence and abuse, methamphetamine abuse, narcotic abuse, and substance abuse. People with addictions often cannot quit on their own. Addiction is an illness that requires treatment. Treatment may include counseling, behavioral therapies, self-help groups or medical treatment. People often assume that those with addictions should be able to quit by simply making up their minds to do so. Addiction is thought to be possible for a wide range of chemical substances. Dependence, most often related to physical symptoms, can occur for a subset of the chemicals that cause addiction. For instance, rarely an individual is prescribed a medication by a doctor for a legitimate reason (such as pain after an injury) and this can lead to physical withdrawal symptoms if this medication is stopped...
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...Abstract Addiction is a chronic relapsing brain disease that has significant impact on your brain and your behavior. People make choices throughout their daily lives and have a choice to start using drugs. The problem at hand is, once someone makes the choice to start using drugs, the pleasure sensation keeps you wanting more. There are a variety of reasons behind why people use substances such as alcohol and other drugs. Many people use substances because they like the way it makes them feel. The substance hijacking their brain’s pleasure system, leaves them wanting to do it again. The use of the substance in such way, influencing the brain to crave the substance, lose control over the use, and continue use despite the consequences. Substance Abuse vs. Substance Use Disorder Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is very prevalent in many countries. A drug is any substance that modifies the body’s normal functioning. As stated in our book, Substance Abuse “is the term that is used when an individual uses a compound when there is no legitimate medical need to do so, or, when that compound is used in excess of the social standards” (Doweiko, 2014, p.13). Substance abuse also indicates that the dependence for the chemical or chemicals being abused is nonexistent at this time. One thing to keep in mind is that excessive substance abuse can lead to developing a substance dependency. Addiction affects all aspects of a person’s life. Substance use disorder refers...
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...Drug addiction is a serious threat to public health in the United States. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 21.6 million Americans over the age of 11 required professional treatment for substance abuse in 2011. Out of this number, 2.3 million — just over 10 percent — actually received treatment at a facility dedicated to treating addiction. These are sad statistics, and often, reading figures like this tempts people to open up discussions about how addictions are diagnosed and treated in this country, and how they are sometimes ignored. But, it might also be valuable to discuss how addictions actually develop, and the impact that addictions have on both the addict and on that addict’s community. These cause-and-effect discussions might be dire, but they might provide just the kind of spur to action that some families need in order to address a problem unfolding in their midst. How Addiction Develops how an addiction developsTo understand the root causes of addiction, it’s important to understand how the use of illicit drugs affects the brain. The brain has a natural system for identifying and reinforcing positive experiences. When a person eats a delicious meal, spends intimate time with a loved one, or curls up in a warm blanket on a cold night, the brain rewards the behavior by releasing feel-good chemicals like dopamine. Repeating these experiences reinforces the behavior by teaching the brain to expect those pleasant sensations. Addictive...
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...and losing her car in the parking lot. Linda is also telling stories regarding her children and is later corrected for telling the story about the wrong child. Linda has no brain damage, besides the decay of her memory due to her substance abuse. When one has brain damage, or anyone uses any illicit drug, it affects the function of the brain. She believes she might be suffering from a neurological disorder. I believe the effect she is experiencing is due to her past substance use. Cocaine is known to cause several neurological disorders due to the fact that the crystalline free-base form is water insoluble which when smoking or free basing results in an instantaneous high contributing to the rapid absorption through the large pulmonary surface area and swift penetration to the brain. Cocaine can be absorbed from the mucous membrane, therefore causing neurological complications (Agarwal, 2013). Since she is healthy I would rule out that it is a neurological disorder and that it is just poor memory. Substance abuse affects the brain stem, the limbic system, and the cerebral cortex since drugs are chemicals. Cocaine causes nerve cells to release excessive amounts of natural neurotransmitters or prevent the normal recycling of these brain chemicals. This leads to an exaggerated message in the brain, ultimately wreaking havoc on the communication channels (Seikel, 2013). In which I believe explains Linda’s confusion, etc. In regards to the information processing system...
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...Internet Addiction and Depression, Anxiety and Stress ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between internet addiction and depression, anxiety, and stress. Participants were 300 university students who were enrolled in mid-size state University, in Turkey. In this study, the Online Cognition Scale and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale were used. In correlation analysis, internet addiction was found positively related to depression, anxiety, and stress. According to path analysis results, depression, anxiety, and stress were predicted positively by internet addiction. This research shows that internet addiction has a direct impact on depression, anxiety, and stress. INTRODUCTION Cyber space is a virtual space in which we communicate with other people on the network due to the wide distribution of computers. Cyber space has appeared as a new environment basically different from the physical space in which we live. However, the advancement of Internet technology not only brings benefits, but also negative results. Of these negative aspects, excessive Internet use is increasing dramatically. Typical Internet behaviors included revolving around the PC rooms, participating in chat rooms, checking e-mailbox too many times, playing online games, and surfing pornographic contents. Internet addiction is described as an impulse control disorder that does not involve use of an intoxicating drug and is very similar to pathological gambling (Young, 1996)...
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...Addiction: A Neurological Disorder Addiction is a neurologically based disease. For many years recovery specialists have compared alcoholism or addictions to a physical disease: like diabetes. In reality addictions are more closely related to a neurological disorder like Tourette's Syndrome* than they are to diabetes. If the problems you suffer stem from severe alcoholism or addiction, you must accept that these problems are not primarily mental or free will issues. Addictions are not about will power. The problems facing addicts, alcoholics, and their families are miserable, disgusting, and infuriating. They are often hopelessly discouraging. But to imagine that an addict "could change if he wanted to" is a serious misunderstanding of the long term dynamic of addictive disorder. The fact is precisely that an addict cannot change in the long run even if he wants to! That is the definition of addiction: "the loss of control over the use of a substance." It is important to understand that this loss of control is manifested not in terms of days or weeks, but in longer term behaviors: terms of months and years. The reason addicts have lost control is because they have suffered permanent physical neurological changes based in their brains and nervous systems. The disorder manifests in long term obsessive-compulsive behaviors outside the realm of the addicts own control. It is true enough that the use of chemicals begins with chosen behavior. But if alcoholism or addiction develops...
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...illnesses or injuries among Americans. Abused drugs include Amphetamines, Anabolic steroids, Club drugs, Cocaine, Heroin, Inhalants, Marijuana and Prescription drugs. Drug addiction is actually a disease and quitting is more than having a strong will or good intentions. Drugs change the brain which causes quitting to be more difficult even if the abuser is ready to do so because of withdrawals or other symptoms. It has so many negative consequences on the abuser and society. Estimates of the total overall costs of substance abuse in the United States, including productivity and health- and crime-related costs, exceed $600 billion annually. Estimates of the total overall costs of substance abuse in the United States, including productivity and health and crime related costs, surpass $600 billion annually. This includes approximately $193 billion for illicit drugs, (1) $193 billion for tobacco, (2) and $235 billion for alcohol. (3) As bad as these numbers are they don’t fully describe the other prices people pay such as crime, loss of employment, failure in school, domestic violence, child abuse, homelessness and death. It harms unborn babies and destroys families. There are different types of treatment for drug abuse. But the best is to prevent drug abuse in the first place. Addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use, regardless of the harmful consequences to the addicted person and to those...
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...Addiction is a disease of choice as a disorder in the Brain’s Reward (Hedonic) System Dr. McCauley was motivated to analyze the term ‘Disease of Addiction’. The foremost question faced in addictionology, “Is addition really a disease?” It is actually is much more than a disease. Drug addiction deprives brain from the dopamine neurons. Frontal cortex to the midbrain changes and creates the dwindling of the mind with the continued use of drugs. The choice argument states an addict says he cannot stop. Dr. McCauley shows that an addict can stop, by helping them to make the correct choices or making the choice for the addict. The simple experiment cracks me up (normal reaction for an addicted person due to relating to the situation), flooring...
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...Motivation and the Brain Motivation and the Brain Scientists and psychologists alike have been exploring the relationship between addiction and the brain for decades. The motivations behind the core root causes of addiction and how it affects the brain have been speculated over and theorized about. Refraining from drugs can be very difficult for a person to do when they are an addict. Drugs have a way of taking over a person’s life and destroying all of their relationships around them. People start using drugs for different reasons. Some people start using drugs for fun, some use to mask the feelings they are feeling, and some use for pain. This paper is going to discuss the brain structure and functions, the impact of intrinsic factors, and the extrinsic factors, which will include hereditary and the environment. Brain Structure and Functions The brain is the most delicate organ of the body. Drugs release dopamine to the brain. “Dopamine is a monoamine neurotransmitter formed in the brain from the amino acid tyrosine. Dopamine is essential for the healthy functioning of the central nervous system; it has effects on emotion, perception and movement.”(Purse, 2009) This gives a person a feeling of pleasure. The brain makes less dopamine when people continue to use drugs. With this, when people stop using drugs the dopamine is low and your brain has a hard time with pleasure. The ways that drugs motivate the brain are two-fold, chemical and psychological. There...
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...Causes of Ecstasy Addiction Ecstasy in its purest form is not considered physically addictive in the ‘traditional’ sense. However, ecstasy does affect the brain’s neurotransmitters, which can lead to a chemical imbalance that helps fuel addiction. Ecstasy acts on brain chemicals, known as “neurotransmitters,” that control and balance mood. One important neurotransmitter that ecstasy acts upon is serotonin, responsible for feelings of happiness, calm, and relaxation. Ecstasy floods the brain with serotonin, expending the brain’s serotonin levels, and leaving the person experiencing a deficit of this important neurotransmitter once the drug exits the system. With repeated use, the brain detects the overabundance of serotonin and scales back natural production. Though this effect may only continue for a few days, users with weekly or more frequent use often experience withdrawal-induced depression. This effect, in combination with the intense “euphoric” feeling ecstasy produces and the ecstasy high’s impact on the brain’s reward centers can all combine to create a psychological addiction. Also, many ecstasy pills are not pure MDMA ecstasy’s active ingredient contain cheaper substances, such as speed (amphetamines). Chemical filler drugs may have their own physical addictiveness and can add to ecstasy addiction when used in high doses (often due to heightened tolerance) and high frequency use. Physical signs of ecstasy addiction are dilated pupils, high body temperatures, excessive...
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...addicts have had an abusive childhood (Umeno, Morita, Ikeda, Koda, & Abe, 2009). It has now been discovered that there is a biochemical reason that this happens. Scientific findings show that being a victim of child abuse can contribute to addiction in adulthood because the abuse can cause profound and possibly irreversible damage to the structure, function and chemistry of the brain. Kaufman, Plotsky, Nemeroff and Charney (2000) claim that because child abuse occurs during a crucial period of brain development, neurobiology reveals that trauma such as physical, emotional and sexual abuse has a substantial impact on the brain. It has also been discovered that the more severe the abuse, the more impact there is on brain function (Bremner, 2005). It has been found that abused children have abnormal brain wave patterns. Child abuse victims suffer damage to important brain structures like the cortex, which is related to rational thinking. Panzer (2008) describes that some of the most dramatic damage is seen in the limbic system. The limbic system is the midbrain region that regulates memory and emotion. The limbic system also is involved in motivation and emotional behaviors (Bremner, 2005). This region contains two deep lying brain structures, the amygdala and hippocampus. The hippocampus determines what information coming in will be stored in the long term memory. Damage to the...
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