Psychology is a discipline of science concerned with the study and comprehension of human thought and behaviour. It studies a person’s mental process, reasoning, perception, and how these factors influence their behaviour.
Addiction is a brain disorder characterised by compulsive involvement in pleasurable stimuli despite negative or even life-threatening consequences. Addiction is primarily caused by a biological process that is triggered by repeated exposure to addictive stimuli.
All addictive stimuli share two characteristics:
As a result of sustained exposure to chronically high levels of addictive stimuli, transcriptional and epigenetic changes in the brain’s reward system generate a disorder.
The initial decision to use drugs and continued drug abuse can cause brain alterations that test an addict’s self-control and distort their capacity to resist severe drug cravings.
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When a person engages in a specific behaviour, their brain may respond to the stimulus represented by that behaviour by judging it to be “rewarding”. Their brain’s reward system will then create the urge to repeat that behaviour – either because it is intrinsically pleasurable or because it is extrinsically rewarding – by producing chemicals like dopamine, which drive motivational salience.
The more a person engages in a rewarding behaviour, the more conditioned they become to want to repeat it to achieve and maintain the positive feelings created by dopamine and other chemicals – and to avoid the negative emotions caused by a lower level of dopamine in the absence of the behaviour in question. As the affected person’s reward system becomes disrupted, they are forced to repeat the addictive behaviour until they can reach a neurochemical rebalancing. What may start out as merely habitual behaviour (routine) may turn into an addiction.
Psychologists studying addiction have generally divided into two camps: those who believe addiction is an illness and those who think it is a choice.
According to the illness model, addiction is viewed as a disease with biochemical, genetic, or environmental causes. Because of the disease model’s neurological foundation, proponents may assume that a pharmacological – or even surgical – addiction treatment could be discovered, ” healing” the brain’s afflicted areas and removing the need to participate in addictive behavior. This hypothesis links addiction to changes in the brain, particularly in the mesolimbic pathway, that may or may not be the result of the affected person’s conscious choices.
The choice model of addiction, on the other hand, throws the burden of responsibility for the development of the condition squarely on the shoulders of the addict. According to this view, addiction is caused by a conscious decision to engage in addictive behaviour again and over again while being aware of the adverse effects. Supporters of this paradigm often think that there is no such thing as a pharmaceutical or treatment solution for addiction and that the addict must work to change their behaviour to achieve and maintain abstinence by deliberate decision-making.
There are no exact criteria for predicting whether or not someone may become addicted. Instead, a variety of factors influence the chance of developing an addiction.
It goes without saying that the more risk factors a person has, the more likely they are to develop a substance abuse problem. These risk factors include environmental and genetic factors like childhood trauma, alcohol use at a young age, low self-esteem, a history of addiction, poor coping skills, and absent or neglectful family members.
To escape the unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, the addict may use them more frequently and in bigger amounts. This can speed up the onset of drug addiction and raise the chance of catastrophic problems, such as overdose.
The development of mental health conditions such as PTSD can be influenced by past events, which can eventually lead to addiction. For example, a 1998 study indicated that women who had been raped as a child had twice as many Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms as women who had never been raped. PTSD has been proofed to be linked with substance abuse. Past traumatic events in life can also directly or indirectly lead to the development of an addiction.
A person’s biological makeup can be a risk factor. About half of a person’s chance of being an addict is determined by the genes they inherit. Individuals’ ethnicity, gender, and the prevalence of other mental disorders are all potential risk factors. It has long been recognised that addicts have a dopamine system that is underactive, resulting in a reduced ability to feel pleasure in everyday life.
Various personality disorders, which are disorders that cause significant impairments in personal and interpersonal functioning but are not caused by a medical condition, have been linked to an increased risk of addictive disorders, particularly substance addiction, possibly as affected individuals seek to relieve the psychological aspects of their conditions or to alleviate feelings of worthlessness or social incompetence.
The person’s surroundings also play a role. This environment comprises family and friends, stress, parental direction (or lack thereof), socioeconomic position, stress, and early exposure to harmful situations. Growing up without both parents present, or with both parents being drug users, for example, puts a child in danger of being exposed to drugs at a young age, perhaps leading to addiction.
Because some drugs are more addictive than others, the way they’re taken can also enhance the chances of establishing an addiction. Drugs that are injected or inhaled are more addictive than those that are taken orally. This is due to the fact that narcotics are injected or inhaled directly into the bloodstream and brain, bypassing the liver and other organs that would normally filter them.
The length of time it takes to develop an addiction varies. While some addictions develop over months or even years, others grow far more quickly. It’s possible that the object of your addiction is a factor.
Heroin and methamphetamines, for example, are more addictive than alcohol and marijuana. When a person uses heroin or cocaine, the withdrawal, or “get-off” period, is sometimes physically painful, contributing to their urge to consume it again.
As a coping mechanism, many people suffering from stress or the impacts of trauma turn to substance abuse or other apparently pleasurable behaviours. Because people seek distraction or escapism from their problems, these behaviours can become addictive, often very fast, as the individuals in question participate in them more frequently and perhaps to a greater level than is expected.
Addiction and mental illness are frequently linked. Some mental illnesses directly cause obsessive behaviour, which is generally inevitably addictive. Other disorders can drive addictive behaviour (particularly substance misuse) as a kind of self-medication or escapism, or they can be caused by addiction.
Dual diagnosis is a term used to describe when a substance use disorder co-occurs with some other mental health disorder. In cases of addiction, dual diagnosis is highly prevalent, and it makes treatment much more difficult (as both disorders need to be treated simultaneously, and the treatment of one can often interfere with that of the other).
If your loved one needs support dealing with an Alcohol Addiction, contact us today on 0800 999 1083. We can help you by recommending treatment options.
Substances that alter brain chemistry, as well as process addictions like gambling, sex, and shopping, can all be classified as addictive behaviours.
Many chemicals have addictive qualities, and repeated exposure to these substances can lead to addiction.
Opiates, both illegal and prescription, are known to have abuse potential due to their quick onset of effects.
Cocaine and methamphetamine, for example, release a large amount of dopamine in a short period of time. This euphoric high followed by a severe crash can trap people in a cycle of abuse that eventually leads to addiction. This release of dopamine is not limited to chemicals; many process addictions can produce a ‘high’ even when no drugs are present.
Gambling is a highly compulsive behaviour that can have serious ramifications for relationships and financial security. In recent years, online gambling has become more accessible, and with the rise of mobile betting, susceptible people can lose money in seconds.
No amount of winning would ever satisfy a gambling addict’s insatiable want for more. Betting stakes are increased over time in order to achieve the same ‘high’. Addicts frequently make obsessive decisions to compensate for lost earnings, erroneously believing that they will recoup their losses.
Other types of behavioural addictions, such as sex addiction, affect the brain’s reward pathways in a similar way. Such addictive behaviors have negative consequences in people’s lives and can lead to criminal activity, relationship problems, and serious financial difficulties.
There have been numerous psychological factors linked to the development of addiction.
The rebound effect is the return, or re-emergence, of symptoms that may have been suppressed or controlled. At the same time, an individual takes a prescription or consumes a substance of abuse after the individual has stopped using it. The symptoms in question may recur in a more severe form than they were before. Someone taking medicine to treat insomnia, for example, may experience significantly worse periods of sleep disturbances once they stop taking the prescription. The rebound affect fuels addiction by making people feel motivated to keep using a substance, regardless of the consequences, in order to avoid unpleasant symptoms; rebound can also be a withdrawal symptom.
The term “reinforcement” in behavioural psychology refers to the strengthening of behavioural reaction over time when it is preceded by a specific stimulus. Positive or negative reinforcement can both contribute to the development of addiction, though positive reinforcement is more common, in the form of positive feelings and experiences that result from, for example, the consumption of substances of abuse and are then sought after by individuals, resulting in repeated substance abuse.
Addiction is primarily a reward system disorder, although scientists and psychologists disagree on how this disorder manifests. The reward system refers to the areas of the brain that control motivation, desire, and appetites, as well as the urge to engage in (or avoid) certain behaviours. The reward system in the brain is made up of a vast number of different areas and structures connected by different types of neurons, and abnormal behaviour in any of these areas of the brain can cause a compulsion to participate in addictive behaviour.
Sensitisation is a process in which repeated exposure to a stimuli causes the response to that stimulus to become amplified over time. Someone who gambles for the first time, for example, may have a pleasurable reaction; however, if they continue to gamble, they may develop hypersensitive to the behaviour and have an increasingly intense reaction to the act of gambling. Sensitisation can also happen as a result of substance abuse: drug sensitisation refers to the feeling of gradually intensified effects after repeated use.
The brain recognises and registers all pleasure in the same way, whether it be a wonderful and satisfying meal, monetary reward, or drug use. Pleasure is recognised in the brain through the release of certain neurotransmitters.
An intense spike of dopamine happens when drugs are abused (for recreational purposes), resulting in a “shortcut” to the brain’s reward system. Neurotransmitters play a function in memory and learning, as well as contributing to the pleasant experience. This learning process prompts a person to act and seek out the source of pleasure from previous experiences. Some have labelled addiction as a taught behaviour based on this pattern.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter and hormone that has a variety of activities in the human body, including driving motivational salience (the compulsion to engage in or avoid particular behaviour). Dopamine is commonly referred to as a “pleasure chemical,” however it is more correctly described as a “reward chemical” rather than a “pleasure chemical.” Anticipating a reward raises dopamine levels in the brain, producing a desire for that reward; on the other hand, many addictive substances of abuse either boost dopamine release or impede its absorption into the brain. Dopamine insufficiency causes unpleasant sensations and feelings, which are avoided, further driving addicted behaviour.
The nucleus accumbens is a part of the basal forebrain (towards the front and base of the brain) that forms the ventral striatum with the olfactory tubercle. The nucleus accumbens is a key area associated with motivation and reward and, therefore, with the experience of pleasure; it is an endpoint of the mesolimbic pathway down which dopaminergic neurons (transmitting dopamine) project, and overexpression of the gene transcription factor DeltaFosB in the nucleus accumbens is now thought to be the primary mechanism by which addiction (both behavioural and substance-related) develops.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that is commonly associated with feelings of happiness, well-being, and pleasure, but its true function is far more complex, involving reward, memory, cognition, and learning, as well as a variety of physiological processes such as appetite, mood, and sleep regulation. Many substances of abuse, including a variety of psychedelic hallucinogens, as well as some antidepressants, enhance serotonin production. The desire to experience the high feelings associated with serotonin production, as well as the impulse to avoid the negative feelings associated with serotonin depletion, can drive addictive behaviour, particularly in the aftermath of substance usage.
The ability of the brain to change over the course of a person’s life is known as neuroplasticity. For example, the amount of grey matter in the brain, as well as the power of specific neural networks, can vary. Regularly engaging in addictive behaviour can result in a reorganisation of crucial areas of the brain, reinforcing addiction and making it substantially more difficult for a person to escape it. Similarly, certain types of substance abuse can produce neuroplasticity, which can lead to addiction reinforcement as well as detrimental long-term repercussions like cognitive impairment.
Don’t go through the process of recovery alone. Treatment providers can answer your questions. Get in touch with one today.
Call 0800 999 1083 today!
Because addiction – particularly addiction to alcohol and other drugs – affects so many people around the world, it is now recognised as a serious public health issue. As a result, addiction treatment has evolved into a highly sophisticated field, with extensive research into various aspects of the phenomenon. Many distinct therapeutic approaches are used by mental health professionals and addiction specialists, each from a different philosophical perspective. Treatment is provided by public, private, and third-sector organisations all throughout the world.
The majority of modern treatment plans include a combination of detoxification and counselling, as well as medication. Residential rehabilitation, in which addicts stay onsite to receive treatment in a dedicated facility, is widely regarded as the most effective form of addiction therapy, however other forms are also known to be beneficial in many circumstances.
Recovery from addiction is often viewed as a long-term, even lifelong process that continues long after an addict has completed any addiction treatment programme, and there are various organisations across the world that provide support to recovering addicts outside of treatment settings.
Here are some common treatment approaches to the addiction:
Addiction to drugs and alcohol is best treated as a psychological and behavioural problem in order to fully address it. Knowing the psychology behind addiction makes it simpler to comprehend those who suffer from it and provide the appropriate help for them to overcome it.
Throughout the country, there are several clinics and organisations that may help you overcome your addiction and reclaim control of your life. To begin the process of treating addiction, contact us on 0800 999 1083 today.
BACP accredited psychotherapist with 16 years experience working in mental health specialising in psychodynamic person-centred therapies treating those with a range of mental health disorders including anxiety, depression, OCD and Addiction.
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