Addiction. Most people have run into it, whether it be knowing someone personally, or knowing a friend of a friend who has an addiction problem. If you have never experienced addiction yourself, it may be hard to understand how someone could possibly become so dependent on a substance that it starts to ruin their life.
The neurochemistry mechanisms of the drugs are the center to why addiction can be so potent. Many structures of the brain are involved in addiction. Two of the areas of the brain related to addiction are the frontal cortex and the nucleus accumbens.
According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, addiction is a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry. It is the dysfunction in many of these reward and motivation pathways that can develop into an addiction. If addiction persists and is not treated, it can go as far as resulting in death due to the pathway dysfunctions in the brain.
The frontal cortex of the brain plays a fundamental role in the circuits of reward and motivation. In addiction, the frontal cortex is responsible for the manifestations of altered impulse control, judgement, and dysfunctional pursuits of rewards. Addiction can especially manifest during early adulthood. This is due to the on going development of the frontal lobe, expanding its connections throughout the brain. When adolescents are exposed to drugs, this can inhibit the morphology of the frontal lobe, contributing to the development of “high risk” behaviors and thus to addiction.
The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is also highly involved in addiction. This is referred to as the brain’s pleasure center. When the neurotransmitter dopamine surges as a drug binds to a receptor in the brain, it proceeds to target the NAc. Addictive drugs provide a “short-cut” for the brain’s reward system due to this surge of dopamine. Through this intensified signaling in the NAc, addiction becomes possible. The pleasure that an individual receives from the signaling is enough for them to want to continuously seek out and fulfill.
These are just two of the brain areas involved in addiction. The process of addiction is much more complicated as the individual pathways are broken down, but knowing just the basics of how addiction forms can be valuable when helping an individual who has developed such a problem.
Brain Structures and Addiction
