What is addiction?
Addiction is a condition that results when a person ingests or engages in an activity that can be pleasurable, but the continued use/act thereof becomes compulsive and interferes with ordinary life responsibilities, such as work, relationships, or health.
Users may not be aware that their behaviour is out of control and causing problems for themselves and others. The word addiction is used in several different ways.
One definition describes physical addiction. This is a biological state in which the body adapts to the presence of a drug, so that drug no longer has the same effect, otherwise known as a tolerance.
Another form of physical addiction is the phenomenon of overreaction by the brain to drugs. However, most addictive behaviour is not related to either physical tolerance or exposure to cues.
People compulsively use drugs, gamble, or shop nearly always in reaction to being emotionally stressed, whether or not they have a physical condition.
Since these psychologically based addictions are not based on drug or brain effects, they can account for why people frequently switch addictive actions from one drug to a completely different kind of drug, or even to a non-drug behaviour.
When referring to any kind of addiction, it is important to recognise that its cause is not simply a search for pleasure, and that addiction has nothing to do with one’s morality or strength of character.
Many people do not understand why or how other people become addicted to drugs.
It is often mistakenly assumed that drug users lack moral principles or willpower, and that they could stop using drugs simply by choosing to change their behaviour.
In reality, drug addiction is a complex disease, and quitting takes more than good intentions or a strong will. In fact, because drugs change the brain in ways that foster compulsive drug abuse, quitting is difficult, even for those who are ready to do so.
Drug abuse and addiction have negative consequences for individuals and for society.
Drugs contain chemicals that tap into the brain’s communication system and disrupt the way nerve cells normally send, receive, and process information.
There are at least two ways that drugs cause this disruption: by imitating the brain’s natural chemical messengers and by overstimulating the “reward circuit” of the brain.
Long term abuse causes changes in other brain chemical systems and circuits as well.
Marina Smal
