What Is Drug Addiction?
Drug addiction is a chronic brain disease. It causes a person to take drugs repeatedly, despite the harm they cause. What is the common cause of drug abuse? Repeated drug use can change the brain and lead to addiction. The brain changes from addiction can be lasting, so drug addiction is considered a “relapsing” disease. This means that people in recovery are at risk of taking drugs again, even after years of not taking them.
What Happens To The Brain When A Person Takes Drugs?
Does everyone have the same cause of drug abuse? No. Not everyone who uses drugs becomes addicted. Everyone’s bodies and brains are different, so their reactions to drugs can also be different. Some people may become addicted quickly, or it may happen over time. Other people never become addicted. Whether or not someone becomes addicted depends on many factors. They include genetic, environmental, and developmental factors.
Signs that someone has a drug problem [1] include:
- Changing friends a lot
- Spending a lot of time alone
- Losing interest in favorite things
- Not taking care of themselves – for example, not taking showers, changing clothes, or brushing their teeth
- Being really tired and sad
- Eating more or eating less than usual
- Being very energetic, talking fast, or saying things that don’t make sense
- Being in a bad mood
- Quickly changing between feeling bad and feeling good
- Sleeping at strange hours
- Missing important appointments
- Having problems at work or at school
- Having problems in personal or family relationships
Why Do Some People Become Addicted To Drugs While Others Don’t?
What is the common cause of drug abuse? Various risk factors can make you more likely to become addicted to drugs, including:
- Your biology. People can react to drugs differently. Some people like the feeling the first time they try a drug and want more. Others hate how it feels and never try it again.
- Mental health problems. People who have untreated mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely to become addicted. This can happen because drug use and mental health problems affect the same parts of the brain. Also, people with these problems may use drugs to try to feel better.
- Trouble at home. If your home is an unhappy place or was when you were growing up, you might be more likely to have a drug problem.
- Trouble in school, at work, or with making friends. You might use drugs to get your mind off these problems.
- Hanging around other people who use drugs. They might encourage you to try drugs.
- Starting drug use when you’re young. When kids use drugs, it affects how their bodies and brains finish growing. This increases your chances of becoming addicted when you’re an adult.
Causes Of Drug Addiction
In general, people take drugs for a few reasons:
- To feel good. Drugs can produce intense feelings of pleasure. This initial euphoria is followed by other effects, which differ on the type of drug used. For example, with stimulants such as cocaine addiction, the high is followed by feelings of power, self-confidence, and increased energy. In contrast, the euphoria caused by opioids such as heroin is followed by feelings of relaxation and satisfaction.
- To feel better. What is the common cause of drug abuse? Some people who suffer from social anxiety, stress, and depression start using drugs to try to feel less anxious. Stress can play a major role in starting and continuing drug use as well as relapse (return to drug use) in patients recovering from addiction.
- To do better. Some people feel pressure to improve their focus in school or at work or their abilities in sports. This can play a role in trying or continuing to use drugs, such as prescription stimulants or cocaine.
- Curiosity and social pressure. In this respect, teens are particularly at risk because peer pressure can be very strong. Adolescence is a developmental period during which the presence of risk factors, such as peers who use drugs, may lead to substance use. [2]
Genetics And Drug Addiction
Biological factors that can affect a person’s risk of addiction include their genes, stage of development, and even gender or ethnicity. Scientists estimate that genes, including the effects environmental factors have on a person’s gene expression, called epigenetics, account for between 40 and 60 percent of a person’s risk of addiction. Also, teens and people with mental disorders are at greater risk of drug use and addiction than others. Children’s earliest interactions within the family are crucial to their healthy development and risk for drug use. [3]
Environment And Drug Addiction
According to Psychology Today, here are the 6 environmental factors that influence addiction:
- Family dynamics and interactions. One of the strongest external factors shown to influence addictive behavior is early life experiences. Family interactions, parenting styles, and levels of supervision play a pivotal role in the development of later mental health difficulties, including substance use.
- Friend groups. When an individual’s social interactions rely heavily on associating with individuals who display potential alcohol or drug problems, then it can be very difficult to exorcise yourself from similarly displaying such problematic behaviors.
- Social media. While social media has many social benefits, there are also many social downfalls. When an individual struggling with emotional problems sees other people online who appear to be happy, attractive and enjoying life, it can make them feel further socially isolated, damage their self-esteem, and exacerbate feelings of shame.
- Media in general. People’s behaviors are also influenced by other media avenues such as video games, movies, and television shows. From displays of substance use and other behavior that border (or cross into) glorification to the fantasy creation of unrealistic goals and wishes, media portrayal of relationships, violence, sex, and more can encourage younger viewers to develop worldviews that are self-critical and unhealthy.
- Culture/religion. There are many cultural and religious-based triggers for addiction such as the geographical area in which you grow up, religious beliefs prevalent in your culture, early experiences and teachings related to shame, and participation in (or exclusion from) cultural or religious activities.
- Learned environments. For people with addiction, the physical environment can also create a whole host of triggers. From attending a pub for “after-work drinks” to your kitchen bench while home alone, to a particular social hangout, these places can be associated with cravings. When behaviors are repeated, they can be conditioned to a particular place or situation and these learned habits can be hard to break. [4]
Drug Abuse And Changes In The Brain
Drug use, or misuse, includes:
- Using illegal substances, such as
- Anabolic steroids
- Club drugs
- Cocaine
- Heroin addiction
- Inhalants
- Marijuana addiction
- Methamphetamines addiction
- Misusing prescription medicines, including opioids. This means taking the medicines in a different way than the health care provider prescribed. This includes
- Taking a medicine that was prescribed for someone else
- Taking a larger dose than you are supposed to
- Using the medicine in a different way than you are supposed to. For example, instead of swallowing your tablets, you might crush and then snort or inject them.
- Using the medicine for another purpose, such as getting high
- Misusing over-the-counter medicines, including using them for another purpose and using them in a different way than you are supposed to
Drug use is dangerous. It can harm your brain and body, sometimes permanently. It can hurt the people around you, including friends, families, kids, and unborn babies. What is the common cause of drug abuse? Drug use can also lead to addiction.
Neurotransmitters And Drug Abuse
Every substance has slightly different effects on the brain, but all addictive drugs, including alcohol, opioids, and cocaine, produce a pleasurable surge of the neurotransmitter dopamine in a region of the brain called the basal ganglia; neurotransmitters are chemicals that transmit messages between nerve cells. This area is responsible for controlling rewards and our ability to learn based on rewards.
As substance use increases, these circuits adapt. They scale back their sensitivity to dopamine, leading to a reduction in a substance’s ability to produce euphoria or the “high” that comes from using it. This is known as tolerance, and it reflects the way that the brain maintains balance and adjusts to a “new normal”—the frequent presence of the substance. However, as a result, users often increase the amount of the substance they take so that they can reach the level of high they are used to. [5]
Complications
The Impact of Addiction Can Be Far-Reaching:
- Cardiovascular disease
- Stroke
- Cancer
- HIV/AIDS
- Hepatitis B and C
- Lung disease
- Mental disorders
Beyond the harmful consequences for the person with the addiction, drug use can cause serious health problems for others.
Drug Addiction Treatment
There are a variety of evidence-based approaches to treating addiction. Drug abuse treatment can incorporate behavioral therapy (cognitive-behavioral therapy or contingency management), medications, or a combination. The specific treatment or combination of treatments will range depending on the client’s individual needs and, often, on the types of drugs they use.
Many treatment programs exercise both individual and group therapies. For instance, group therapy can provide social reinforcement and help enforce behavioral contingencies that promote abstinence and a non-drug-using lifestyle.
How We Can Help? Searched for “Texas inpatient consultants or inpatient drug rehab Texas?” or are you seeking a national inpatient rehab destination?
What is the common cause of drug abuse and is it treatable? Drug addiction is a complex issue that requires long-term treatment – not a quick fix. Therefore, the first step in drug abuse treatment is to seek help from your medical provider or a trained professional. Clearing addictive drugs from the body and overcoming withdrawal symptoms is the goal of detox, which is the first step of drug abuse treatment.
If you are addicted to drugs, your first step in recovery should be medical detox in a safe and medically supervised setting. We Level Up TX detox & substance abuse treatment center medically assist clients in clearing their systems of addictive substances. In addition, a comprehensive team prescribing medications can alleviate your withdrawal pains while monitoring your health 24 hours. Thus, assuring both your safety and comfort.
Drug And Alcohol Treatment Centers In Houston TX
We Level Up TX’s thorough approach to rehabilitation supports several levels of care to ensure the best possible outcome for every client who enters our doors. From an intensive and more supportive atmosphere for those in the early days of recovery to a comfortable residential-style living dynamic upon completion of detox, we are here to help guide you down the safe and results-based path to your sobriety. Once detox is complete, a new doorway in treatment opens up, referred to as a residential level of care to help the clients uncover the cause of drug abuse and receive therapies.
We Level Up TX residential care program slowly and effectively introduces the individual into an atmosphere of therapeutic growth, marked by Master’s level therapists, clinicians, group counselors, psychiatrists, and a community of like-minded individuals with the same aim: to attain sobriety and live a great life.
Clients in residential therapy programs will live comfortably within the facility during this crucial and fragile time. This supportive environment is designed to give clients 24-hour care for sobriety, removing temptations for relapse and applying an air of recovery into every component of the treatment timeline.
We Level Up TX finds that when clients are living in a supportive community, especially during their early recovery process, they can truly focus on what matters most: their recovery. Make this your opportunity to reclaim your life with a comfortable drug addiction treatment. Call today to speak with one of our treatment specialists.
Sources:
[1] Drug Use and Addiction – U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health
[2-3] Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction – National Institute on Drug Abuse
[4] 6 Ways Your Environment Is Influencing Your Addiction – https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/all-about-addiction/201808/6-ways-your-environment-is-influencing-your-addiction
[5] THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF SUBSTANCE USE, MISUSE, AND ADDICTION – U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
