Drugs and alcohol are exceptionally hazardous for us because once we ingest these substances, we will begin to change. Once we start to get used to the drug or alcohol, we will be unable to control your cravings. The brain is the most complex organ in your body. It is responsible for many things that happen in our life, such as our thoughts, our actions and etc. It also determines how we will use a drug. Certain parts of the brain control specific things. The amygdala controls our emotions, the hippocampus controls our memory and the nucleus accumbens controls anything pleasurable. Also, the prefrontal cortex controls a variety of complex behaviours, including planning, and greatly contributes to personality development. In the brain, there …show more content…
This indicates that the individual no longer responds to the drug in the way the person initially responded. When they use drugs, what used to get them drunk or high doesn't affect them anymore. The drug will no longer give the user the same happiness like it used to. In order to achieve the same level of happiness, the user must dose on more drugs and alcohol. The consequence of always wanted to achieve that state is that the user will have a dependence on the drug. When people get depended on a drug, without ingesting the substance, the user will get sick. The more drugs they use, the more that they don't function properly. People who are depended on drugs and alcohol can't stop thinking about these substances. The symptoms will get worse if they don't drink or do drugs for a long period of time. If someone gets depended on a drug or alcohol, there is a high possibility that they will get addicted to the drug. Addiction is the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity. They will have a compulsive reaction to the substance. Compulsive means resulting from or relating to an irresistible urge, especially one that is against one's conscious wishes. The cravings for drugs will take over the user's life. It also affects their behaviour because they will get more malicious and join fist
Addiction may be defined as the chronic use of drugs alongside the problems resulting from their use. Despite the person being aware of the consequences of using the drug, he continues to use it. If not attended to, addiction may cause serious social problems and even death (Hanson et al. 36). In order to address drug addiction, it is vital to understand addiction itself and where it stems from.
There are many different definitions in which people provide regarding addiction. May (1988) describes that addiction “is a state of compulsion, obsession, or preoccupation that enslaves a person’s will and desire” (p. 14). Individuals who suffer from addiction provide their time and energy toward other things that are not healthy and safe. The book
"Cocaine delivers an intensity of pleasure - and despair - beyond the bounds of normal human experience."
Addiction is the result of a gradual accretion of neurological tendencies based upon the ingestion of a particular substance or the taking of a particular action. It is cumulative, building over time, and varies in strength from individual to individual based on their own abilities to exercise willpower over themselves and their actions. Some people become addicted more easily than others. In the end, addiction is the result of a series of choices made by the individual. These choices usually have a massive impact upon the life of the person, modifying their friendships, family life, professional life and psychological/spiritual well being. The cumulative aspect of addiction is built up by an individual willfully choosing to either not see the direction they are heading in or to not take action even though they sense themselves following the path of an addict. Some kind of deterioration in their life is bound to take place, and willful ignorance is all that could keep one from noticing that. Likewise, addiction can he helped and cured by an individual choosing to do something different, to adjust their habitual reliance on a specific substance or action for pleasure or escape or whatever quality they are searching for. Only the individual can make that choice, but once they have made that choice other people and institutions can help them.
Drug addiction involves potentially life-long behavioural abnormalities that are caused in vulnerable individuals by repeated exposure to a drug of abuse (Kumar et al., 2005). The persistence of these behavioural changes suggests that long-lasting changes in gene expression, within regions of the brain, may contribute to the addiction phenotype (Kumar et al., 2005). Recent research has been aiming to characterize the influence of epigenetic regulatory events in mediating the lasting effects of abusive drugs on the brain in animal models of drug addiction (Kumar et al., 2005). Evidence has shown that repeated exposure to abusive drugs induces change within the brain’s reward region in three modes of epigenetic regulations; histone modifications
Drug addiction is often characterized as being a complex brain disease that causes compulsive, uncontrollable, drug craving, seeking and use without any regards to the consequences they may bring upon themselves, or society. As long as the brain is exposed to these large amounts of dopamine on the reward system, it will inevitably develop a tolerance to the current dopamine levels, which it is receiving, lessening the pleasure the user will experience. In order to satisfy the brains “reward...
...raving the drug again because dopamine levels were so high; they wanted to feel the same way again.
The brain becomes accustomed to the chemical changes caused by the chemical changes caused by the substance. It begins to alter its normal production and starts releasing neurotransmitters. The user begins to lose control and has difficulty limiting their drug intake; the need to consume the substance becomes more compulsive because it has affected the region of the brain that controls impulse, behavior, and craving.
Development is a never ending cycle in life. Each person begins to develop from conception until passing away. Now, while most people think that development starts after birth that is incorrect. Development starts as soon as the baby is conceived. Everything that a woman carrying a baby does or takes place in will translate into the baby. The baby shares a blood flow with the mother. Drugs, even legal drugs, will go into the mother’s blood stream which will then go into the baby’s blood stream. The “maternal blood flows through the uterine arteries to the spaces housing the placenta, and it returns through the uterine vein to the maternal circulation” (Santrock, 2012, p. 80). This means that anything that enters into the blood stream will also affect the baby. Each type of drug is under a certain category. Psychoactive drugs are drugs that are constantly being studier. According to Santrock (2012), psychoactive drugs are drugs that act on the nervous system to alter states of consciousness, modify perception, and change moods. (p.83). They come in three categories: stimulants, depressants, and hallucinogens. Stimulants include caffeine, cocaine, methamphetamine and nicotine. Some people say that pregnant woman do not know what taking these into their system is doing to their baby. Stimulants are becoming more popular and there effects need to be studied and known. Each stimulant affects the baby in short-term and long-term.
Addiction is a very strong word that brings along many negative connotations. When we think of an addiction we imagine someone who depends on a certain substance, most likely alcohol to have their needs met. Addiction is defined by the Webster dictionary as, "a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal." Even though our society sees addiction and only applies the word to drug addicts and alcoholics, there is a much wider range of subjects that fall under the umbrella of what an addiction truly is. An addiction is a dependency on any kind of materialistic object that you use on a day to day basis that brings
When a person first uses drugs, it is voluntary. After repeated use the user has becomes conditioned to keep using. The reason this happens is because drugs effect the brain’s reward center by filling it with dopamine. This makes the user feel pleasure by using which then makes the user want to keep using. When comparing this to classical conditioning the Neutral stimuli would be the environmental stimuli associated with drug administration, the unconditioned stimulus would be drugs effect on the brain, and the unconditioned response would be the reward received by doing drugs. After repeated use the conditioned response is now the environmental stimuli associated with drug use and the conditioned response is the reward received by doing drugs. Like with Pavlov’s dogs’ triggers response to the lab assistant and bell, Addicts can have triggers as well. Certain smalls, locations and situations can trigger and addict to use. For example, every day from work an addict sits down on their back porch and smoke a marijuana cigarette. The back porch would then become a trigger. So, every time the addict sits on their porch they then crave the marijuana cigarette. When someone is clean or sober, these triggers can lead to
Furthermore, mental illness and drug addiction are conditions that often occur together. This is a person who has two brain disorders that influence one another, and which both need treatment. Some say that certain drugs may actually cause mental illness in individuals with a weak genetic profile (Genetic Science Learning Center, 2011).With that being said, symptoms may get worse, but drugs do not necessarily cause mental illness. Some people may begin using drugs of abuse as a form of self-medication. For instance, drugs of abuse may temporarily relieve some of the symptoms associated with stress, anxiety, or depression, but the problems will still exist. Therefore, the form of self-medicating when using drugs can lead to harmful effects in a person’s mental health. People who have been undiagnosed may also suffer from serious mental disorders. So they may take drugs to relieve their symptom which is known as self-me...
Also, the brain releases less dopamine. Bringing back the initial euphoric feeling requires consumption of more alcohol. Therefore, the addict looks for larger amounts of drugs and builds up a tolerance. A drug user or an addict cannot perform daily activities well without alcohol or other substances in the system.
Abuse can cause countless medical problems to the body. A person who is addicted will continue to stimulate themselves regardless if they are aware of the negative chain reactions. Once addicted, it becomes difficult to stop due to how the body has become dependent. Health will be harmed the more a stimulant is used. Health effects include: cardiovascular disease, strokes, cancer, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, lung disease, mental disease, birth defects. Mental health is what keeps a person in the right mind to make better decisions and have better control in life. Drugs have the ability to change mood and behavior. If drugs have affected the brain already, the desire increases which changes mental health. Some may not realize that they have been affected their health negatively. “A person who abuses drugs may not realize they have a problem until pronounced effects of drug abuse are seen, often physically. While drug abuse effects on the body vary depending on the drug used, all drug abuse negatively impacts one 's health (Addictions Community). Since drugs create many health issues, treatment is not a simple task. Treatments are hard to obtain and addictions often go
Controversies over drugs and the effects they have physically, mentally, and emotionally have been around for centuries. Some argue the fact that smoking marijuana has no health effects on the body. Some also say that other drugs have no long term mental consequences to suffer. Now, thanks to technology and hours of studies, answers have came to show the true long term health effects of drugs on the human body and mind.