Like many of the issues we have been looking at recently that involve the brain, this is going to be a complicate issue but I will try to tackle it the best that I can. But, I firmly believe that addiction is a disease and in this blog I will try to show why I, and many others in the scientific community believe that.
To start off, it is worth nothing that addiction is classified as a disease by many medical associations including the American Medical Association and the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
Like many other diseases that can afflict a person, addiction is brought on through a combination of behavioral, environmental and biological factors, with genetic risks accounting for about half of the likelihood that somebody will develop an addiction.
HOW DRUG USE CHANGES BRAIN CHEMISTRY
In a normal healthy brain, when a person satisfies basic needs pleasurable chemicals are released in the brain that makes the brain want to repeat what just caused that pleasure. This is a driving force of survival, such as receiving pleasure when drinking water or eating food.
Many addictive substances release very high levels of these chemicals in the brain, and with continued use over time the brain may start to need these substances to feel normal since there are always these high levels of pleasure chemicals inside of it.
This is a major problem because a lot of things that should normally bring pleasure don’t bring nearly as much as these chemicals do, causing people to have cravings for these addictive drugs that far outweigh normal healthy activities and leading to a decline in one’s overall health.
It is also a problem because these brain changes can remain for a very long time, or even permanently after someone uses these substances.
BUT ISN’T IT SOMEONES CHOICE TO USE THESE SUBSTANCES?
Well, technically yes. Especially at the very start of an addiction before the brain chemistry has been altered an individual has full control over weather or not they want to ingest these substances. The Problem comes from what I mentioned above and that is that this brain chemistry is altered so significantly that a person loses most or all control over their behavior.
Brain imaging studies of people with various forms of addiction show that there are actual physical changes to the brain in areas that are important for critical for judgement, decision making, learning and memory, and behavior control. This makes the addiction stronger and more signs of the disease of addiction show.
WELL THEN WHY DO SOME PEOPLE BECOME ADDICTED TO DRUGS AND OTHER DON’T?
As with any other disease that we have discussed as well as others we haven’t, the chances that someone forms addictions differs from person to person and there is no single way to determine that someone will become addicted to drugs.
Genetics play a huge part in addiction and children with an addict parent are 4x as likely to become addicts themselves. Also currently almost 60 percent of people suffering from alcoholism also have family history of alcoholism.
There are other factors that can increase the likelihoods of depression developing including already existing psychiatric conditions, social environment, and trauma.
WHAT ABOUT THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE ADDICTIVE BEHAVIORS?
For addiction, there are certain risk factors as well as opposing protective factors that contribute to the risks of forming addiction.
On one hand, aggressive behavior in childhood, lack of parental supervision, poor social skills, drug experimentation, and community poverty all put someone at risk of forming this disease. While on the other hand good self-control, parental monitoring and support, positive relationships, academic competence and school anti-drug policies during childhood put someone at lower risks of developing addictions.
For all of the points that I just talked about, this is why I consider addiction to be a disease and not a choice. Because of this I believe we need to start treating addition for what it is, socially and medically so people with the condition can start getting the treatment and care they need to be able to improve and at least take back control over the disease, even if it can’t be beaten. Thank you for reading my thoughts about this.
Addiction: A Disease or a Choice?
