There is a major substance abuse and addiction crisis in the United States. A national survey showed According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 5, people died from alcohol or substance use poisoning in and it was a contributing factor in more than 90, deaths.. The path to substance abuse can seem innocuous. People may try a substance out of curiosity or societal peer pressure.
They may eventually develop a habit because it makes them feel better, enhances performance, or simply makes them feel good. A lot of the characteristics that may develop from this habit over time, such as an ongoing lack of self-control, are found in addiction, which can sometimes make the transition from substance abuse to addiction tough to initially spot. When addiction is fully fleshed out, however, its impact hits hard.
People who experience addiction may find being under the influence of a controlled substance is the only way they feel they can function, and they will do whatever they can to maintain this feeling. When considering substance abuse vs addiction, neither one is better than the other.
Substance abuse can have horrendous consequences on a person. From a physical standpoint, for example, substance abuse entails risks of infectious diseases, organ damage, and even death through overdose. The adverse effects of substance abuse are not confined to long-term scenarios, either. Persons struggling with addiction often chase their addictions at the expense of their education, employment, health and family relationships, as well as their status as law-abiding citizens.
As a result, they could end up homeless, jobless and without a family to turn to before they eventually die.
The role of the counselor is critical in therapy for both substance abuse and addiction. Counselors can help users and those suffering from addiction step away from drugs by applying therapeutic methods to examine the situations that caused them to initially turn to drugs.
But with highly addictive drugs, drug abuse can lead to addiction very quickly. You can develop a heroin addiction after using it only a few times. Drugs are chemicals. When you use a drug, it travels into your brain and changes how your brain cells work, and even affects how nerve cells send, receive, and process information. Different drugs affect brain cells in different ways. There are at least two main ways drugs work on the brain.
Drugs like heroin and marijuana have structures that look and act like neurotransmitters that naturally occur in our brains. The receptors in our brains think that they are normal cells and lock onto them. They begin to send messages throughout the brain as a normal neurotransmitter would. However, the drug does not work exactly like a normal neurotransmitter. The messages they send are abnormal and cause damage to our brains and bodies.
Other drugs work by affecting how nerve cells release dopamine. Dopamine is a natural neurotransmitter that results in pleasurable feelings. Drugs like cocaine cause nerve cells to release too much dopamine or stop the cells from recycling dopamine in the usual way. It results in exaggerated messages in the brain, disrupting communication channels. This causes problems in your brain and body.
The reward system is a natural and healthy part of how the brain works. When you eat chocolate or go for a run, your nerve cells release a small amount of dopamine. This is what makes the activity pleasurable. It also encourages you to do the activity again.
When you use a drug, it affects this system. It releases large amounts of dopamine in response to the drug, producing feelings of euphoria. The brain connects this feeling with the drug and sends out strong urges to use the drug again. These urges can be incredibly intense. Over time, the brain also begins to release dopamine in response to cues it associates with the drug.
Repeated drug use over a long time can lead to dramatic changes over large areas of the brain, and in some cases, these changes are irreversible. This is why addiction is viewed as a chronic illness. Physical dependence is when the body has physiologically adapted to the presence of a substance. When you repeatedly use a drug, the brain begins to adapt to the increased dopamine.
Neurons start making less dopamine or reduce the number of receptors. The amount of dopamine your brain naturally produces decreases, and you begin to feel depressed and unable to enjoy the things that normally give you pleasure. If you have a physical dependence on a substance, you will experience a range of withdrawal symptoms when you stop using it. These can be uncomfortable and, in some cases, can be dangerous. They make it even more challenging to stop using a substance. In recent years extensive research has explored the science of substance use disorder and the most effective treatment methods.
We now have extensive knowledge about how to treat addiction. Treating substance use disorder involves identifying the cues that your brain associates with a substance and developing tools to avoid or cope with them. While it is possible to have a physical dependence without being addicted, addiction is usually right around the corner. Addiction is marked by a change in behavior caused by the biochemical changes in the brain after continued substance abuse.
Substance use becomes the main priority of the addict, regardless of the harm they may cause to themselves or others. Make a Call Mental dependence is when use of a substance is a conditioned response to an event or feeling. Triggers can be emotional responses to events, certain people, places or anything a person associates with using a substance.
When the symptoms of mental and physical dependence are apparent, an addiction is usually present. However, the main characteristic that distinguishes addiction from dependence is the combination of mental and physical dependence with uncontrollable behavior in obtaining and using a substance.
The minds behind the DSM find the term carries too much negative connotation and is ambiguous. However, the most recent edition of the DSM no longer creates this distinction. Abuse and dependence are defined on a scale that measures the time and degree of substance use. Essentially, abuse is like the early stage of dependence. As substance abuse becomes more frequent, the likelihood of developing a dependence disorder becomes greater.
Learn More. In this edition, the definitions revolving around addiction were changed once again. Previously, abuse was a mild form of addiction, and dependence was a moderate or severe form of addiction.
That terminology was problematic because in biology — the study of organisms — dependence refers to a physical adaptation to a substance. Today, the APA classifies substance use disorders as mild, moderate, or severe.
Recognizing the difference between an addiction and substance dependence can help to better understand the nature of addiction. Knowing as much as possible about addiction and dependence can also be a valuable tool in achieving recovery. It is also important to realize that while a dependence may be present without addiction, substance dependencies frequently lead to addiction. If you think you have a dependence or addiction, contact a treatment provider today for help.
After graduation, he decided to pursue his passion of writing and editing. All of the information on this page has been reviewed and verified by a certified addiction professional.
0コメント