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Addiction: What is it exactly?
Addiction overview:
 The World Health
Organization suggested in 1964 that the term addiction be replaced by the
word dependence. They felt that dependence describes the feeling that
physically and mentally that you absolutely have to use a substance. They seemed
to believe that dependence more comprehensively described the whole experience
of addiction.
My belief is
that addiction is actually a better term to use as it refers to a combined
experience of both mental and physical feelings of dependence upon a specific
substance or activity. Addiction also defines when you’re compelled to use a
substance or behave in a certain way, even though you are aware that you will
probably face considerable consequences by going through with it. You are
addicted when you continue to use a substance or engage in a behavior which puts
you in harm’s way.
Addiction is
known to cause changes in your brain. These changes are not fully understood by
either scientists or clinicians. Although these changes are something of a
mystery, they’re very powerful. When these changes occur, you lose control over
the use of a substance or
engaging in
certain behaviors. The urges may seem irresistible. Some people are compelled so
powerfully by their addiction that nothing else really seems to matter. It
doesn’t matter how smart you are, how much you’ve achieved, or how physically
powerful you are, addiction can happen to anyone.
Some experts
consider dependence to be just one step along a slippery path that leads to
addiction. Frequently, they refer to mental dependence, which are
associations that develop in your mind between specific events (triggers) and
emotional and physical urges to use the substance or take part in the addictive
behavior. These triggers are usually set off by various stimuli in your
environment. When triggered, they exert a powerful influence on your behavior.
Moreover, they’re not just in your mind. Through a series of reactions they
induce biochemical changes in your brain as well.
While addiction
and changes in brain chemistry are the result of both, there is a difference
between the brain changes associated with mental and physical dependence. With
mental dependence, the chemistry changes are brought about through the process
of mental associations. Just thinking about getting high may change the
chemistry of your brain resulting in physiological changes in your body. The
resulting brain changes affect your whole body, which then cause you to feel
physically excited.
Physical
dependence
on the other hand doesn’t require any thinking at all. It’s simply
related to the physical effects of the addictive substance on the specific brain
chemicals called neurotransmitters. Certain neurotransmitters are altered by
specific substances. As the brain adjusts to the presence of the chemical, it
learns to tolerate the drug. With continued use, you will not even feel normal
(or good) unless the substance is in your system. Physical dependence actually
describes your brain’s physical adaptation to the drug. Addiction is actually a
relatively simple process of adaptation to the presence of chemical changes in
the brain and body or related to mental associations and the activation of
chemicals on specific neurons in the brain.
Information
from Addiction and Recovery for Dummies by Brian Shaw Ph.D, Paul Ritvo Ph.D and
Jane Irvine DPhil
Additional information and webpage by
Paul Susic MA Licensed Psychologist Ph.D
Candidate
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