The World of Addiction

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Recommended: this paper will discuss addiction

“Addiction is a brain disease expressed in the form of compulsive behavior,” says by Alan Leshner in his article, “Addiction Is a Brain Disease” featured in the book Drug Abuse: Opposing Viewpoints. Addiction has a variety of meanings depending on what your viewpoint of addiction. According to dictionary.com, the concrete definition of the word addiction is, “the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.” Basically various doctors and therapist consider addiction to be a genetic disorder. “Provocative, controversial, unquestionably incomplete, the dopamine hypothesis provides a basic framework for understanding how a genetically encoded trait — such as a tendency to produce too little dopamine — might intersect with environmental influences to create a serious behavioral disorder. Therapists have long known of patients who, in addition to having psychological problems, abuse drugs as well. Could their drug problems be linked to some inborn quirk?” (Nash, and Parker, pg 2 of 8). Along with addiction being possibly a genetic disorder, a minority of scientist believe that the word ‘addiction’ is too broad in its denotation. “If addiction means ‘compulsive, out of control use of a dangerous drug’ is this the same as a person’s being ‘addicted’ to a cell phone? Scientist cannot work or live with this imprecision.” (Erickson, 2 of 253). They believe that the word is misunderstood in denotation. “It is important to correct the common misimpression that drug use, abuse and addiction are points on a single continuum along which one slides back and forth over time, moving from user to addict, th... ... middle of paper ... ...-alcoholism- info.com/Psychological_Effects_of_Alcoholism.html>. Roleff, Tamara L. Drug Abuse Opposing Viewpoints. Farmington Hills, MI: The Thomas Corporation, 2005. 16-218. Print. Stein, Joel. "My Short, Ugly Life as a Bookie." Time 12 Feb 2001: 1-2. "The Effects of Gambling." www.problemgambling.ca. CAMH, 2011. Web. 7 Apr 2011 . The Physical and Psychological Effects of Substance Abuse: Handout." www.ncsacw.samhsa.gov. National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2004. .Web. 7 Apr 2011. Types of addiction and treatments. (2008, December 13). Retrieved From http://www.healthyplace.com/addictions/main/types-of- addictions-and-treatments/menu-id-1001/

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