Some Questions About Alcohol Or Drug Addiction And Some Answers

Alcohol or drug addiction affect more than just the person suffering the addiction. The situation also harms the people who care for the addicted person, such as family, friends… even coworkers are affected. In this article, we hope to offer some helpful information concerning drug addiction through common questions and answers so that you will be informed and able to approach situations in your own life with both sensitivity and realism.

What is drug addiction?

Drug addiction is a physical and mental condition characterized by habitual and uncontrollable drug intake, involving craving and seeking, even despite the negative consequences associated with drug use.

Alcohol or drug addiction is different from alcohol or drug dependence, though. For example, a person who is taking a drug to treat a disease or illness may have trouble functioning without the drug, but the person may see an improvement in the medical condition while taking the drug. They are only dependent, however, because they are not taking the drug compulsively. Persons addicted to a drug or alcohol exhibit compulsive behavior towards the drug, and unlike the medically dependent drug or alcohol user, they are unable to quit the use once the drug or alcohol has performed its intended effect.

What are the most common forms of drug addiction?

Interestingly enough, the most common addictions are to legally available substances.

Alcohol - also known as ethanol - can become addictive, and it is a depressant. The most common forms of alcohol for consumption are beer, wine, and liquor. Most countries have laws regarding the legal consumption of alcohol, such as a minimum age requirement and maximum blood-alcohol level to operate a vehicle.

Nicotine, most often in the form of tobacco in cigarettes and chewing tobacco, is another legal drug. Nicotine is a stimulant and highly addictive. It is also a very difficult substance to stop using once addicted.

Caffeine is also an addictive drug. It too is a stimulant, offering the user a temporary increase in energy. Once addicted to caffeine, however, the caffeine addict must continually consume caffeine, usually from a beverage like coffee, tea, or a caffeinated soda or soft drink, in order to maintain their level of energy. Stopping the use of caffeine may cause the coffee drinker to go through withdrawal, causing headaches or fatigue.

What are some other viewpoints concerning the reason for drug addiction?

More are beginning to think that drug addiction is a form of dysfunctional learning. Much of what people do is based on motivation and reward. Abused drugs or alcohol take over the parts of the brain that are involved in motivation and reward. The drug user is re-educated, erroneously, motivation stimuli and the associated rewards. Drug-associated cues will in it's turn cause the desire to use to flare up in the addicted person. This will lead to unconscious and/or compulsive drug-seeking behavior as well, for example lying, stealing, and even physical violence. The addicted drug user will lose the sense of voluntary control over the use of the drug. The continued use of drugs strengthens the neurological pathways in the brain, and their activation quickens with each use. The quicker the "high" is achieved, the stronger the dysfunctional learning.

Why is drug addiction so difficult to overcome?

The more a person uses an addictive drug, the more difficult it becomes for the person to stop use. Their learning process is problematically reshaped. Drugs also physically change a person, transforming the neuro-chemical makeup in a person's brain. This leads some of us to view addiction as a disease. However, the model that sees drug addiction as a matter of dysfunctional learning helps to explain how learned behaviors can be unlearned. Certainly the more addicted a person is, the more difficult it will be for them to unlearn their addicted behaviors. Abused drugs can change long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) in neuronal circuits involved in the addiction, also adding to the difficulty of overcoming drug addiction. Properly assessing the development of an addicted person's affected learning would increase the potential of more effectively treating the addiction.

What are the some of the chemicals involved in drug addiction?

The CREB protein, a transcription factor activated by cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) immediately after a high, triggers genes that produce proteins such as dynorphin, which cuts off dopamine release and temporarily inhibits the reward circuit. In chronic drug users, a sustained activation of CREB leaves the user feeling depressed and dissatisfied, unable to find pleasure in previously enjoyable activities, often leading to a return to the drug for an additional "fix". It also leads to a short-term tolerance of the substance, necessitating that a greater amount be taken in order to reach the same high. Another transcription factor called delta FosB, is thought to activate genes that evidently counter to the effects of CREB, actually increase the user's sensitivity to the effects of the drug or substance.