Drugs, Brains, and Behavior - The Science of Addiction - Drug Abuse and Addict... - The Diigo Meta page

• 25 Jun 11
  

  bernadine Purnell
• 15 Feb 11
  

  Sabrina Hunkler
  • Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences
  • It is considered a brain disease because drugs change the brain - they change its structure and how it works.
  • Addiction is similar to other diseases, such as heart disease. Both disrupt the normal, healthy functioning of the underlying organ, have serious harmful consequences, are preventable, treatable, and if left untreated, can last a lifetime.
  • At first, people may perceive what seem to be positive effects with drug use. They also may believe that they can control their use; however, drugs can quickly take over their lives.
  • Consider how a social drinker can become intoxicated, put himself behind a wheel and quickly turn a pleasurable activity into a tragedy for him and others.
  • Over time, if drug use continues, pleasurable activities become less pleasurable, and drug abuse becomes necessary for abusers to simply feel "normal."
  • No single factor determines whether a person will become addicted to drugs.
  • As with any other disease, vulnerability to addiction differs from person to person
  • The overall risk for addiction is impacted by the biological makeup of the individual - it can even be influenced by gender or ethnicity, his or her developmental stage, and the surrounding social environment (e.g., conditions at home, at school, and in the neighborhood).
  • • Home and Family. The influence of the home environment is usually most important in childhood. Parents or older family members who abuse alcohol or drugs, or who engage in criminal behavior, can increase children's risks of developing their own drug problems.
  • Drug-abusing peers can sway even those without risk factors to try drugs for the first time. Academic failure or poor social skills can put a child further at risk for drug abuse
  • taking drugs at any age can lead to addiction
  • the earlier a person begins to use drugs the more likely they are to progress to more serious abuse
  • harmful effect that drugs can have on the developing brain
  • Smoking a drug or injecting it into a vein increases its addictive potential.^9,10 Both smoked and injected drugs enter the brain within seconds, producing a powerful rush of pleasure
  • can fade within a few minutes, taking the abuser down to lower, more normal levels
  • this low feeling drives individuals to repeated drug abuse
  • One of the brain areas still maturing during adolescence is the prefrontal cortex¹¹ - the part of the brain that enables us to assess situations, make sound decisions, and keep our emotions and desires under control

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