Addiction
Addiction refers to a complex condition characterized by compulsive engagement in rewarding stimuli despite adverse consequences. It is often associated with substance abuse, but can also manifest in behaviors such as gambling or gaming. Addiction involves changes in the brain's reward, motivation, and memory systems, leading to persistent cravings and a loss of control over the addictive substance or activity.
7 Key excerpts on "Addiction"
eBook - ePub- George F. Koob, Michel Le Moal(Authors)
- 2005(Publication Date)
- Academic Press(Publisher)
...CHAPTER 1 What is Addiction? Publisher Summary This chapter defines Addiction as a chronic relapsing disorder that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking, a loss of control in limiting intake, and the emergence of a negative emotional state when access to the drug is prevented. The definition of Addiction is derived from the evolution of the concept of dependence and the nosology of Addiction diagnosis. Addiction is ultimately composed of three major stages: (1) binge or intoxication, (2) withdrawal or negative affect, and (3) preoccupation or anticipation. The chapter focuses on the neuroadaptational changes that occur during the Addiction cycle, although motivational, psychodynamic, social psychological, and vulnerability factors together contribute to the etiology of Addiction. A schematic illustration of a model that proposes a process of incentive salience and accounts for the consequences of drug-induced sensitization is presented in the chapter...
eBook - ePub- Brian F. Shaw, Paul Ritvo, Jane Irvine(Authors)
- 2011(Publication Date)
- For Dummies(Publisher)
...So in this book, we use the term Addiction to refer to a combined experience of mental and physical dependence. In Addiction, as we see it, you’re compelled to use a substance or behave in a certain way, even though you know you face considerable harm by going through with it. You’re addicted when you can no longer direct yourself out of harm’s way. You’re addicted when you continue to use a substance or engage in a behavior that puts you in harm’s way. Simply put, Addiction causes a change in your brain. A change that we, and other scientists and clinicians, are trying hard to understand. Make no mistake; although this change is something of a mystery, it’s still powerful. When the change occurs, you lose control over your urges to use a substance or engage in certain behaviors. The urges are irresistible. You can become so compelled by your addictive behavior that nothing else matters. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, how accomplished you are, or how physically strong you are. It can happen to anyone. Dependence is really one step along a slippery path that leads to Addiction. At a certain point, a prolonged dependence results in another switch being thrown. The experience you have after that switch is thrown is what we call Addiction. It’s important now to talk about both mental and physical dependence. Mental dependence refers to associations that develop in your mind between specific events (called triggers) and emotional and physical urges to use the substance or take part in the addictive behavior. These triggers are actually memory traces that are set off by various stimuli. When set off, they exert a powerful influence on your behavior...
eBook - ePubDrugs without the hot air
Making sense of legal and illegal drugs
- David Nutt(Author)
- 2020(Publication Date)
- UIT Cambridge(Publisher)
...Chapter 9. What is Addiction? Is there an “addictive personality”? Using substances from outside the body to change our brain chemistry is something humans have always done, and the psychoactive effects created are similar to the changes we experience when we eat nice food or take exercise. For the majority of people the majority of the time, this doesn’t lead to compulsive behaviour – we remain in control, and pretty soon our brains return to their prior state. For a minority, however, drug use leads to drug abuse and Addiction, just as a minority of people become addicted to food, gambling or sex. For these people, satisfying their cravings for whatever it is they’re addicted to becomes the most powerful source of motivation in their lives, overpowering every other need and often leading them to harm themselves and others. There are three elements that affect whether a person becomes addicted to a particular drug (Figure 9.1): Figure 9.1: The three elements that affect whether a person becomes addicted to a particular drug. 1. Drug-related factors include how the drug reaches the brain, and what it does when it gets there. Tolerance and withdrawal also affect its addictiveness. 2. Social factors include the availability and acceptability of using the drug, the prevalence of advertising, how the drug makes groups behave, and the economic and social costs. 3. Personal and biological factors are those such as age, gender and genetics. In this chapter we look at the mechanisms of Addiction, tolerance and withdrawal, and why certain people seem to have “addictive personalities”. (Chapter 4 has already examined some of the drug-related factors, which we explore in more detail in chapter 11, and we cover the social factors in chapter 12.) Addiction in history Our understanding of Addiction has increased as more drugs have become available, and as their role in society has changed...
eBook - ePub- Mary McMurran(Author)
- 2003(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...In psychological approaches, biological, psychological and social factors are incorporated to explain individual variations in engagement in addictive behaviours. Clearly, one aspect that must be explained is the degree of a person’s involvement in the addictive behaviour. That is a person may be an abstainer, a moderate drinker or drug user, or an excessive user. Over a person’s life span, there may well be fluctuations in the degree of involvement: from abstinence to moderate use; from moderate use to excessive use; from excessive use to abstinence or moderate use. Psychological theories attempt to explain how these fluctuations occur. The point to note here is that Addiction is not necessarily progressive, as the disease model would have us believe. There is a continuum of levels of involvement and the individual will slide up and down that continuum depending upon the current situation and his or her skills for coping with that situation. For example, many people will drift in and out of problematic substance use consequent upon finding or losing jobs, being in a stable relationship or breaking up from their partner, and having good living accommodation or finding themselves without a home. There Is No Cut-off Point for Addiction The theories presented here do not present us with a cut-off point for Addiction. It is acknowledged that people may have problems at any level of consumption, and that these problems may be interpersonal, legal, financial, scholastic, work-related, psychological or physical. There is no absolute cut-off point for Addiction at which we may place our level of concern, as the disease model seems to suggest. That is, anyone who is experiencing problems in relation to substance use may be a candidate for help, and we need not label this person an ‘alcoholic’ or an ‘addict’ in order to make him or her eligible for our attention. Addiction Is Not Irreversible None of the processes suggested by these psychological theories is irreversible...
eBook - ePubThe Everything Health Guide to Addiction and Recovery
Control your behavior and build a better life
- Linda L Simmons(Author)
- 2008(Publication Date)
- Everything(Publisher)
...CHAPTER 1 The Nature of Addiction THERE ARE MANY kinds of Addictions. Some people are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Others are addicted to gambling, food, pornography, or playing games on the Internet. What Addictions have in common is their tendency to take over a person’s life. Once substance use or behaviors rise to the level of Addiction, they can be very difficult to manage. Treatment and recovery can be extremely challenging and often expensive. But there is hope. In spite of the difficulty, people can and do recover from Addictions. If you or someone you care about is struggling with Addictions, recovery is possible! Abuse Versus Dependence With respect to Addictions, is there a difference between abuse and dependence? This is a commonly asked question; the answer is yes. It is an important distinction to understand, as it may affect the type of treatment sought out and the level of difficulty encountered in recovery. Although both abuse and dependence can cause significant problems in a person’s life, dependence involves physiological changes that lead to an addictive process. Therefore, dependence on substances and/or behaviors can be more difficult and complicated to treat. Repeated abuse of substances and/or behaviors can develop into habits that are hard to break. However, abuse doesn’t necessarily lead into the physiological changes of Addiction. Either abusing or being dependent upon a substance or a behavior can diminish one’s ability to fully participate in and enjoy everyday life. Substance Abuse Substance abuse occurs when a person uses drugs or consumes alcohol excessively. This excessive use typically causes significant problems in a person’s life. For example, if a person drinks excessively on a Sunday evening and is unable to go to work on Monday morning or is unable to perform job functions as well as usual, this is abuse...
eBook - ePubAddiction
A biopsychosocial perspective
- Chris Chandler, Anita Andrews(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications Ltd(Publisher)
...The next section will focus on theories which emphasise the role of choice and the influence of cognitive processes such as attention, perception and memory in driving addictive behaviour. The final section of this chapter will describe theories which attempt to integrate diverse aspects of Addiction into an overarching comprehensive framework. The Disease Model of Addiction The basic premise of the disease model of Addiction is that Addiction is comparable to other medically defined diseases (such as heart disease and cancer) in that it has a biological basis. Current conceptualisations of the disease model locate the disease in the brain circuitry of the affected individual. Addiction is viewed as a progressive chronic relapsing disorder, with a definable set of observable psychological symptoms through which the disease can be diagnosed. The addictive agent is viewed as able to disrupt brain circuits involved in normal reward processing, causing the addicted individual to become ‘sick’. The labelling of Addiction as a disease, which affects particular individuals who are genetically/developmentally/environmentally (or a combination of these factors) susceptible, has implications for how addicts are treated by professionals, how they understand and interpret their addictive behaviour, and how they are viewed by society. The general view of this model is that addictive drugs cause long-term progressive changes in the brain. Alcohol The acceptance of Addiction as a disease is thought to have gained increasing prominence from the late eighteenth century onwards, as can be illustrated by the history of alcohol use. Prior to this, habitual drunkenness was commonly perceived as an act of will. The habitual and excessive drinker was thought of as a morally flawed character...
- Amy E. Wenzel(Author)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications, Inc(Publisher)
...Lisa M. Najavits Lisa M. Najavits Najavits, Lisa M. Behavioral Addictions Behavioral Addictions 440 443 Behavioral Addictions Behavioral Addictions (BAs), which are also referred to as “process Addictions,” are persistent reward-seeking activities that do not involve use of a substance, yet lead to significant negative consequences. Substance use disorder (SUD) is the most widely recognized Addiction, and thus BAs, which are only more recently being studied, are typically compared with SUD in terms of criteria and clinical features. BAs comprise a wide array of behaviors that can become problematic, including gambling, shopping, eating, sex, use of electronics (e.g., web surfing, texting, gaming, television), work, exercise, and hobbies. There are also reports of less common BAs such as tanning, plastic surgery, tattooing, and going to psychics. This entry first addresses the challenges with defining BAs and then discusses the clinical importance, assessment, and treatment of BAs. Definition Challenges Typical criteria for BAs, like those for SUD, include aspects such as craving, tolerance, withdrawal, relapse, guilt, clinically significant impairment and distress, and major consequences in social, medical, legal, work, and/or psychiatric domains. However, a major challenge in the field of BAs is that there is no uniform definition of them as yet, leading to widely divergent criteria sets. The American Society of Addiction Medicine defines Addiction as a chronic disease related to brain reward, memory, and motivation. Problems in these areas and related circuitry are associated with manifestations in biological, social, psychological, and spiritual domains. The individual pursues substance-related and other behaviors to seek rewards and/or relief. Ulrike Albrecht and colleagues describe BAs in terms of biochemical processes, noting that although no external psychotropic substances are consumed, the body’s biochemical processes result in psychotropic effects...
