At the end of class the other day a friend was telling me about her time working in an ER in which she helped many overdose patients. Almost all of them would say something along the lines of “it wasn’t supposed to do this.. It normally doesn’t do this..” After many days receiving these answers she finally asked one of the patients, “so if it wasn’t supposed to do this, what is it supposed to do?” “Help me forget.”
Humans turn to vices daily, using them to help mitigate our lives. These can be healthy or harmful depending on the vice and reasoning behind it. Addiction can stem from any activity that generates a pleasure response in your brain. This is called the reward pathway. It involves the release and transmission of dopamine from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the limbic system and frontal cortex where it binds to its receptors. Once bound to the receptor this reward takes place teaching us the actions and situations surrounding the stimulus. Naturally, this pathway enhances certain behaviors necessary for survival such as eating, drinking, sex and social interaction.
Drugs however don’t play by the rules. They take over the system, not only increasing the levels of dopamine but physically changing the brain. Depending on the drug, different areas are affected in different ways primarily by changing the density of receptors (decreasing D2 receptors), blocking re-uptake of dopamine, or triggering the release of excess dopamine. They all work in the same way, increase the dopamine present to therefore prolong the euphoria. This has now changed the behaviors from survival to drugs. Every need is now encompassed by and inferior to the need for drugs.
There is a great lack of self control in drug addiction. Even when the drug is no longer pleasurable and enjoyable the abusers must continue. This lack of self control stems from the reduced concentration of D2 receptors in the brain which regulate the frontal areas responsible for self control. It becomes compulsive and impulsive. This is not the same as an addiction to your phone where you still truly have control over the actions. They truly have lost all control, yet as a society we act as though they are still fully functioning and can stop at the drop of a hat. We have unrealistic expectations for those suffering from abuse. As a society we must change the narrative surrounding this, likely needing to categorize addiction as a mental illness rather than just a personal problem. It not only destroys them but those around them as they slowly lose the one they love to drugs.
dopamine in the frontal cortex, the nucleus accumbens, and ventral tegmental area increase, and give the person a sense of euphoria. Drugs of abuse have a way of making this euphoria or “high” last for a prolonged time. Cocaine, for example, blocks dopamine re-uptake thus causing the reward to stay in a person’s system for longer. When a drug of abuse is taken for a long time the amount of dopamine decreases, and the “high” decreases. The individual will begin to crave their drug of choice, and if they are unable to gain access to that drug they will begin to experience withdrawal. To satisfy their cravings, due to the rewiring in the brain, a person will take more of their drug of abuse in order to experience a high, and without even noticing the person has become ADDICTED.
Addiction occurs when a person is physically and mentally dependent on a specific substance. Most the time, the substance is a drug. Drug addiction has always been depicted as a choice. From the outside, it has always seemed that getting rid of an addiction should be as easy as stopping the intake of the drug. However, research into drug addiction has shown that it is actually a disease of the brain. Drugs alter a very important pathway in the brain called the reward pathway by blocking the reuptake of signaling molecules, thus increasing reward signaling. Altering this pathway creates long lasting changes in the addict’s brain, which makes it very difficult for addict’s to stop their drug intake.
Dopamine binds to dopamine receptors in the synaptic space, which stimulates the neuron, creating the pleasurable sensation. Once the action potential that releases the dopamine is over, dopamine is removed from the synaptic space back into the transmitting neuron via a dopamine transporter. This ensures that the reward is cognitively linked to the stimulus.
drug addiction, you, like many other people, would create the image of a “junkie” in your mind. This is part of the problem with addiction, one of many problems that will be discussed later. Many people believe that addiction is a choice; little do they know that drugs have the ability to rewire a brain, forcing people to seek those drugs above all else.
D2 receptors creating the rewarding effects of drugs or natural rewards. Under normal conditions, the reward pathway controls an individual’s responses to natural rewards, such as food, sex, and social interactions1. This pathway is important in determining an individual’s motivation and their incentive drive1. Stimulation of the reward pathway tells the individual to repeat what it just did to get that reward1.
