Addiction is a complex biopsychosocial disorder that is characterized by an individual's compulsive participation in rewarding activities, despite the potential for adverse consequences. It is a chronic dysfunction of the brain system that involves reward, motivation, and memory. People with an addiction often pursue their toxic habits despite putting themselves or others in danger. The initial decision to use drugs is voluntary for most people, but repeated drug use can lead to changes in the brain that challenge an addicted person's self-control and interfere with their ability to resist intense cravings.
These brain changes can be persistent, so drug addiction is considered a recurrent disease: People recovering from drug use disorders have a higher risk of drug use again even after years of not taking the drug. In short, addiction is a disease. The behavioral aspects of the disease are characterized by continued use of alcohol or other drugs, even when such use causes harm or interferes with the achievement of life goals. For a long time, addiction meant an uncontrollable habit of using alcohol or other drugs.
More recently, the concept of addiction has expanded to include behaviors, such as gambling, as well as substances, and even ordinary and necessary activities, such as exercising and eating. Prevention efforts and treatment approaches to addiction are often as successful as those for other chronic diseases. Addiction is not caused by a bad marriage, financial hardship, a difficult childhood, or other co-occurring mental health disorders. This pattern of results is as expected, since the mechanisms underlying addiction are in themselves heritable.
Drugs that tend to be easily addictive, such as cocaine, opiates and smoking, also show the highest heritability. At the same time that the drug is producing these changes in the brain that are associated with the development of addiction, the individual may also come to tolerate higher doses and even rely on the drug to feel good. No matter how addiction is defined or what term is used, what is clear is that addiction is a huge problem in the U. S.
This is a good time to learn more about the substance or behavior you have been participating in and to reflect honestly on whether you are experiencing any signs or symptoms of addiction. Someone with an addiction will not stop their behavior, even though they recognize the problems that the addiction is causing. The field of behavioral health has struggled for decades to dispel myths and misconceptions about the nature of drug and alcohol addiction. On the other hand, an addiction occurs when widespread drug or alcohol use has caused a change in a person's brain chemistry. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) similarly describe addiction as a long-term and recurrent condition characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use by the individual in spite of adverse consequences. What Miller and Rollnick have taught us, above all else, is that most people with addictions are ambivalent, and that a patient needs help recognizing their ambivalence rather than “overcoming resistance” or “breaking denial”. The results of NIDA-funded research have shown that prevention programs involving families, schools, communities and the media are effective in preventing or reducing drug use. Outpatient rehabilitation near Seattle opioid addiction treatment mental health services teen intervene recovery management are all available options for those struggling with addiction.
It is important to remember that prevention efforts and treatment approaches to addiction are often as successful as those for other chronic diseases.
