The loss of control over one’s life by consuming a substance is what defines dependence on it.
Addictions are chronic diseases that affect the brain, characterized by the continuous and uncontrolled pursuit and use of substances that are harmful to the human being.
Drug addiction, why?
In general, addiction does not depend on the type of substance consumed, but on other factors. Scientific research estimates that genetic factors explain between 40 and 60 percent of a person’s vulnerability to addiction.
But there are other factors, such as age or previous medical condition. Thus, according to psychiatric experts, it is adolescents and people with previous mental disorders who have a higher risk of drug abuse and addiction than the general population.
For example, although marijuana is not addictive for most casual users, it can cause a high addiction in a percentage between 10 and 14% of those who consume it. Or caffeine, which, although it is not common to become addicted to it, can cause dependence in heavy users (300 mg or more).
Number 1 on our list is nicotine, the most addictive legal drug in existence.
The chemistry of addiction
Being foreign chemicals to the brain, they change its structure and how it functions. These changes can last for a long time and result in a change of psychic state and a change of behavior in the person, which can become dangerous and beyond his or her self-control.
When drugs are consumed, they produce an increase of up to 20 times the release of a brain substance called Dopamine, which is largely responsible for addiction.
The changes affect brain areas responsible for the control of decision making, memory, learning and judgment. In the same way, the changes affect the psychic state of the person, being able to suffer depression, irritability, tremors, sleep disturbances, headaches, etc. They may even develop more serious mental illnesses such as psychosis or schizophrenia.
Consequences of addictions
The consequences are serious, since the addicted person cannot enjoy the daily activities: work, family, leisure… But only lives for and by the consumption of the drug, to get his reward, in a vicious circle.
It is like an increasing spiral, where it is necessary to consume increasingly larger quantities to obtain the pleasurable effect, which we know as dependence.
Although we cannot say that the consumption of any substance can produce death by itself, it is true that all of them, together with other factors, such as superimposed medical diseases, genetic vulnerability, route of administration, adulterants, etc… can lead to death.
For example, alcohol consumption can lead to death, just as nicotine consumption can lead to death, as its continued use can cause very serious diseases, such as cirrhosis or cancer.
Other drugs, such as heroin, cocaine or synthetic drugs, by themselves can lead to death by various mechanisms, either by producing a cardiac arrest or a cerebral hemorrhage, among others.
Treatment of drug addiction
They are chronic diseases, such as diabetes, asthma, hypertension, but they have treatment that is mainly aimed at regaining self-control over their lives. An addiction is not a life sentence, but it does require a great effort on the part of the patient and the therapist.
Being chronic diseases, there is the possibility of relapse; however this is not synonymous of failure, but the alarm signal of the need to review the therapeutic intervention.
Addiction treatments must be individualized; however, in general terms, the treatment is a combination of medication and help in changing habits based on simultaneous behavioral therapy. Attention should be directed to solve the simultaneous medical, psychiatric and/or psychiatric problems, as well as the social problems of each patient. It is what is called in medical science a comprehensive treatment.
Acquiring the ability to stop abusing drugs is only one part of a long and complex recovery process.
Am I addicted to any drug?
You are addicted when you lose control of your life by using, regardless of the type of substance or the number of doses.
For example, you are addicted if you stop going to the movies with friends because you can’t smoke in the theater; you are addicted if you have to go to the dentist frequently because your teeth are stained from caffeine; you are addicted if you forget to pick up your daughter from school because you buy cocaine; you are addicted if you routinely underperform at work because you wake up with a hangover from drinking every night, and so forth.