6-1 Addiction

Vocabulary

Academic Word List

Other Vocabulary

Pre-Reading

1. What are examples of things that people can become addicted to? Can behaviors be addictive?
2. Why do you think that people become addicted to something? Why might it be so hard to stop?

Reading

Making Predictions

Addiction - Chemical and Behavioral Dependency

An outstanding social issue that destroys relationships and lives is addiction, but the standard image of addiction is a confused one. Most picture someone who looks and acts emotionally unbalanced and is unable to stop taking drugs, yet there is another aspect of addiction that doesn't involve external chemical substances and revolves around the thrill and excitement that comes with certain types of behavior. Despite coming from very different sources, chemical and behavioral dependencies can cause the same social problems and have very similar effects on the mind and body.

Definition of Addiction

The essence of addiction is complex because it involves a combination of biological and psychological factors regardless of its source. Unlike other diseases, it is not specific to race, age, or gender and can affect anyone. It is an uncontrollable habit and desire to engage in a particular activity that is extremely challenging to either control or be rid of. At the base of an addiction is a response to a pleasurable activity and the desire to experience it again, many times at any cost. Every day, people may feel a strong desire or compulsion to do something, such as eating sweets or watching TV instead of working, but for most people, these are very controllable activities that do not take a great deal of will power to regulate.

Attributes of Addictions

While there is still disagreement among experts as to what constitutes an addiction, there seem to be common attributes that all addictions have. The first is that addiction is counter-productive to an individual: a behavior that is maladaptive. This means that the behavior is not helping addicted people at all but is in fact causing them harm on some level and is preventing them from adapting or changing their situation or overcoming problems they may have. Someone may drink, for example, because they are depressed, yet alcohol is a depressant and actually adds to the problem. Compulsive gamblers may continue their activity to increase their wealth, yet in doing so, they actually fall further in debt and are unable to get ahead.

This disconnect between the addiction and the addicts' true desire leads to a second feature common to addicts in that they persistently continue the activity that is causing them harm. They may not see that the addictive behavior is damaging them at some level, or they may even realize it is detrimental and continue to pursue it in any case. A weekend spent drinking far too much alcohol with friends is not a good thing and definitely has obvious, negative consequences, yet that does not constitute an addiction. Doing this activity continuously over a period of time despite the negative effects could very well be signs that it is addictive in nature.

Another interesting aspect of addiction is that the addicts themselves often fall prey to the stereotype of addicts portrayed by the media and believe that if people become addicts, they must be utterly hopeless and despaired, with their lives falling apart around them. Unfortunately, as a result of this popular image, addicts may feel that if they are still enjoying their lives and are more or less holding everything together, they do not have a problem. Some may even go as far as to believe that it is those around them, and perhaps even society itself, that has the problem and that they are in some way being persecuted and being treated unfairly by others. These "illicit" addictions allow addicts to blame others because they feel others are narrow-minded and not as free-willed or independent as themselves when in fact they are actually restricted and controlled by their own addictions. Instead of experiencing all that life may have to offer, they focus on the addictive behavior and are unable to recognize the harm that the addiction is doing to themselves and the others around them. When the addiction itself is the main coping mechanism that addicts have for dealing with their problems, it is hard to see it as being the source of the problem itself. Sometimes it is only when the addictive substance or behavior is removed or prevented that the addict will recognise the true problem is themselves. Sometimes it may even take serious illness or the loss of a job or partner to make the addict realize where the problem truly lies.

Substance Abuse

The type of addiction most commonly associated with the characteristics described above occurs when someone is dependant on an outside chemical substance. Chemical dependency, as it is better called, entails a person being addicted to a drug or chemical that alters their mood or state of consciousness in some way. As was mentioned, this person will continue taking the chemical and they are unable to stop doing so despite threats to finances, relationships, or health. Even if people with high levels of chemical dependency stop their behavior temporarily, they are far more likely to return to it in spite of their best efforts. Much of this has to do with what is happening inside the brain and how the brain becomes dependent on a particular chemical. One common illegal drug that is a good example of this process is cocaine, which is a drug that is created from the leaves of the coca plant, which grows in western South America. The leaves themselves only contain less than 1% of the active ingredient, known as an alkaloid, that provides the desired effect for drug users, so the leaves need to be processed and refined into a concentrated form, which is usually a number of hard crystals. Before being used, these crystals are often ground or cut into a powder and either smoked or inhaled directly through the nose. When introduced to the bloodstream in these ways, it acts as a stimulant and is also an effective appetite suppressant.

On a biological level, cocaine acts to build up concentrations of certain neurotransmitters in the brain, in particular, dopamine. When this neurotransmitter crosses over to another neuron, or brain cell, it floats back to its original neuron after transmission to be stored and re-used. However, cocaine acts to inhibit, or block, this "reuptake" process, thus leaving a much higher concentration of the neurotransmitter in the synapse and increasing its effect. Dopamine stimulates the reward circuit in the brain and can help regulate sensations of pleasure and motivation. Some common, natural activities such as eating can cause a release of dopamine and people register this as a pleasurable thing to do. Addictive drugs do this as well, but, as explained, they also flood the brain with chemicals linked to reward like dopamine. Cocaine use can see the presence of dopamine increase 2 to 10 times what it is normally, and because the brain wishes to repeat actions that trigger its reward mechanism, cocaine users make the connection between taking the drug and the reward they feel. In this way, the harmful action is repeated and repetitive, addictive behavior is created. What adds to this problem is that because there is so much dopamine in the synapse of neurons, the receptor sites of the neurons actually reduce in number in order to deal with this excess of neurotransmitter. This means that the addict will need even more dopamine to acquire the same effect, and worse than that, regular activities that stimulate that the brain's reward circuitry simply do not produce enough dopamine to have an effect. This can result in the addict ignoring normally pleasurable experiences such as social contact, enjoyable activities, and even eating. The tolerance to drugs like cocaine builds and this process continues to worsen. A severe negative outcome of this is if the addict overdoses, which results when they feel the need to take so much cocaine in order to experience the same pleasurable sensation that it is too much for the body to handle and leads to death, often in the form of heart attack.

Behavioral Dependence

There are other actions that can cause similar processes in the brain that result from cocaine use which do not involve introducing an outside chemical. A behavior which someone has can also become addictive due to its effects on the chemistry of the brain. behavioral addictions are related to patterns of behavior and a lack of impulse control that tends to follow the same cycle as substance abuse does. First, people conduct some activity, such as gambling, playing computer games, or eating, which triggers the release of dopamine and causes them to experience pleasure. This is a normal occurrence, but for some people, the connection made between the activity and sensation is so strong that they seek it out far more frequently than people would normally. As with chemical dependence, they begin to sacrifice other aspects of their lives in order to pursue the activity which is giving them the pleasure they crave.

A large difference between chemical and behavioral dependencies has to do with the mechanism inside the brain. Whereas drugs such as cocaine physically increase the levels of dopamine, there is no external source interfering with the brain that causes elevated levels of this neurotransmitter when it comes to behavioral addiction. People all have natural brain reward circuitry that is a survival mechanism animals have which causes them to seek out what they need for survival such as food and sex. In a healthy brain, when dopamine is released and transmitted after these survival needs are met, the signal the brain receives is that it has enough of the activity and it can be stopped. People who are much more prone to behavioral addictions have a faulty feedback mechanism, and instead of signalling that there has been enough activity, the dopamine receptor indicates that more is still needed. This leads to a further desire to pursue activities which causes the release of even more dopamine. As with drug addiction, tolerance can build over time wherein people feel normal in their situation and they seek further thrills.

Addiction in either chemical or behavioral form still involves a biological process in the brain where there is too much of certain neurotransmitters. Dopamine is not the only one of these involved in forming an addiction, but is a major factor and simplest to understand seeing as how people everywhere rely on its release and transmission for their survival. In the end, however, the source of addiction is often not as important as the hopes that it can be removed or at least controlled.

References

Alcohol Rehab. (n.d.). Blame and addiction. Retrieved from http://alcoholrehab.com/addiction-recovery/blame-and-addiction/

Krisle, J. (2013, September 13). What is addiction? Helping Recovery. Retrieved from http://helpingrecovery.org/what-is-addiction

Lewis, M. (2013, June 17). Behavioral addictions vs. Substance addictions. Psychology Today. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/addicted-brains/201306/behavioral-addictions-vs-substance-addictions

National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA). (2007, January). The brain & the actions of cocaine, opiates, and marijuana. Retrieved from http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/teaching-packets/brain-actions-cocaine-opiates-marijuana

National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA). (2012, November). DrugFacts: Understanding drug abuse and addiction. Retrieved from http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/understanding-drug-abuse-addiction

Psychology Today. (2008, July 21). Dependent personality disorder. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/dependent-personality-disorder

Blickman, T. (2011, February 18). A beginner's guide to coca. The Transnational Institute (TNI). Retrieved from http://www.tni.org/primer/coca-leaf-myths-and-reality

Post-Reading