How Drug Addiction Affects Health and Behavior

It has been said that human beings live in a drug oriented and chemically addicted society. In other words, drugs as well as many other addictive substances have being been taking part on the devastation of many families and individuals who in society have been effected by it. In this paper I will discuss the term addiction as well as all the other terms that correlate with it. For example, I will speak on different substances that the victims are using, as well as two types of drug dependency that consumer’s experience. In addition I will discuss how addiction affects the human health as well as the behavior that comes with an addicted personality along with theories that might explain an addictive personality. Last but not least speak on withdrawal, tolerance and recovery.
How can we define such word like addiction; according to the text we’ve used in class; “Health Psychology” written by Sarafino, addiction is a condition formed by frequent consumption of a natural or artificial psychoactive substance, which the person has become physically and psychologically dependent on. To elaborate on each term, when a person is physically dependent, the body is accustomed to the substance and combined into the standard performance of the body’s muscles. The textbook also indicates that this term also comes with two types of characteristics, which are tolerance and withdrawal. Tolerance is the dosage of the drug that the human body can to tolerate; withdrawal refers to physical and psychological symptoms the consumer experience when he/she stops using the drug they became dependent on. Keep in mind that symptoms may vary on the particular substance used. Symptoms can also include anxiety, irritability, and instance craving for the drug, h...

... middle of paper ...

...eong, L. Comas-Díaz, G. C. Nagayama Hall, V. C. McLoyd, J. E. Trimble (Eds.) , APA handbook of multicultural psychology, Vol. 2: Applications and training (pp. 329-343). Washington, DC US: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/14187-019

Beatty, L. A., & Willis, T. D. (2014). Substance abuse treatments. In F. L. Leong, L. Comas-Díaz, G. C. Nagayama Hall, V. C. McLoyd, J. E. Trimble (Eds.) , APA handbook of multicultural psychology, Vol. 2: Applications and training (pp. 455-477). Washington, DC US: American Psychological Association. doi:10.1037/14187-026

Hart, Carl L., and Charles Ksir. "Drug Use as a Social Problem." Drugs, Society And Human Behavior. 14th ed. New York City: William R. Glass, n.d. 39-40. Print.

Sarafino, Edward P. "Substance Use and Abuse." Health Psychology: Biopsychosocial Interactions. 7th ed. New York: Wiley, 2012. 182-214. Print.