Thesis
While becoming a drug addict is a lifestyle choice and influenced by personal discipline, taking
Drugs alters the brain. People lose their will power and control over their actions. Addiction can become a brain disease rendering the person helpless. Because repeated drug use causes neurological effects, addicts cannot be counted on to help with their recovery, and the national institute on drug abuse agrees addiction is a brain disease.
Addiction is not a brain disease There are two clear sides in the argument over addiction being a brain disease or not. Those who argue against it claim the evidence presented is scientifically unsupported. Most addicts have some sort of control over their addiction “even in the most desperate, chronic
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Continued use of a drug has been shown to change the way are brain operates on a chemical level. Pleasure centers are altered requiring constant use of the drug to feel normal. Many studies have been carried out using brain imaging methods to prove that areas of the brain that control judgement and behavior are affected by continued substance abuse or addiction. It has also shown that depending on are biological make up we could be more at risk. A person gender or ethnicity factors into the risk. The changes in the brain diminish a persons ability to make rational choices. No longer can the addict be counted on to make the necessary changes needed to get better. They now must rely on a medical and scientific approach to help cure their addiction.
MY Position
In this paper I will argue why I feel addiction is a brain disease. When people first start using drugs they tend to do it in moderation. This decision to take the drug is a voluntary one. They are in full self-control of both their judgment and behavior. It doesn’t take long for this to change. Soon it goes from occasional use to regular use and finally an uncontrollable urge to keep using it. The person is now addicted. Continued use of addictive drugs changes the brain on a biological level. This change usually results in relentless and uncontrollable drug use. The addict has now lost all self-control and will power. Their ability to make a good decision gone. Losing this much self-control is a direct result of the biological changes in the
Addictive substances rewire the connections in your mind so that you have problems thinking, feeling happy or enjoying life when you quit using. When you stop using, your body basically panics as it loses access to the chemicals that it is used to. This is the main reason why individuals experience withdrawal symptoms
Furthermore, exploring positive and negative consequences of continued drug
The patients may experience less pain and a high, ultimately creating a desire for more medication. After the initial first week, the desire has moved from a simple want to a need. The body begins to crave more, as the patient desires to feel the high again. After the first few weeks of being addicted, the original dosage no longer helps. The desire for a stronger pill or more medication causes patients to crush their pills and snort it.
V. SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE. Dr. Francesca Filbey’s article highlights the brain and how it is biologically wired in adults and juveniles with addictions, whether it is alcohol or drugs. Filbey (2013) discusses how a person is vulnerable (family history) or biologically (brain impulses) prone to addiction, as well as what kind of treatments can be done to help those that suffer from addiction. She analyzes different studies relating to each area and how effective they were.
There are a lot of reasons why people with mental health disorders turn to drug addiction. This is what makes addiction so complex: influences vary wildly and there is no singular cause of an addiction or an “addictive personality.” Some of the most common behaviors caused by mental health disorders that contribute to
People don’t choose the addict life, nor do they think they’ll get addicted. Drugs just get people hooked. The more you take illegal drugs, the more the side effects multiply. Some side effects
Addiction is a disorder of the brain where a person feels he has to take the drug despite its destructive effects (Volkow, Koob and McLellan). Dependence is a state normally associated when an
A drug addiction occurs when someone uses substances to give themselves a feeling of pleasure even if it has negative consequences for them or others. When an addiction occurs the brain changes too making it extremely difficult to quit. This is because the brain wants more of the pleasurable substance because it’s giving dopamine. Once someone is addicted to something all they want is that thing and they will do anything to get it.
How does someone become an addict? They tried something out, maybe to have a little fun, maybe to escape some reality. Then the high was so intense they decide to try it again. Perhaps they get to the point where all they want to do is feel that high. Eventually life becomes too dull, or just too painful to deal with, so they start itching for their next fix.
Imagine developing a disease that could easily hijack the brain from voluntary behavior of using drugs (including alcohol); an addiction that initially could be preventable. The song lyrics from “The River”, sang by the Tea Party, define an addict who is in trouble for her life because of the use of drugs and/or alcohol. The title of the song, “The River” is referred to as the addict’s bloodstream tainted from her addiction. She struggles to survive, but the more she uses, the more drugs are desired, causing her addiction. One might take drugs for the following reasons: to feel good, to mask pain/problems, to do better, from peer pressure, or to feel better.
Most addicts lack willpower if they are addicted to the drug. Even when they see the harm to their bodies and minds, they will continue to use the drugs because they become addicted to the way it makes them feel. It can make them feel good or bad. The user knows that the drugs are bad and sometimes they do not want to be addicted, but the addiction can be taken by the inability of sleep. When you have a disease caused by addiction, there is not a way that is quick to fix the
Our brains are wired to make sure we will repeat healthy activities. When this reward circuit is kick-started the brain notes something important is happening and remembers it, and that teaches us to repeat over and over again. When drugs
Drug Addiction : Treatment or Punishment? When a person takes a drug the chemicals affect the brain by interfering with how the neurons send messages. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the structure of Marijuana and Heroin mimic a natural neurotransmitter which tricks the receptors into allowing the drug to activate neurons inside the brain which interferes with messages and leads to abnormalities of behavior. With other drugs such as cocaine there is an abnormally large amount of neurotransmitters released which disrupts communication channels.
The effects of addiction on health can be devastating. Once addiction develops, the brain changes interfere with an individual’s ability to make voluntary decisions, leading to compulsive drug craving, seeking and use. 6 Drug abuse can suppress the body’s immune system and is related to risky behaviours, involving the sharing of contaminated syringe, needle or injection paraphernalia and unprotected sex. The combination greatly increases the likelihood of acquiring HIV, hepatitis and many other infectious diseases. 6 Drugs that lead to these diseases are heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.
All these characteristics led to the conclusion that drug addiction is a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use. It is considered as a brain disease because drugs change the structure of the brain, and how it works. Every drug affects different systems of the brain. For example, in the case of cocaine, as the brain is adapted in the presence of the specific drug, brain regions responsible for judgment, decision-making, learning, and memory begin to physically change, making certain behaviors “hard-wired.” In some brain regions, connections between neurons are pruned back.