Addiction is a brain disease
Addiction is a chronic, progressive, relapsing brain disease.
You may have heard this before. But somehow, you just can’t believe it. After all, didn’t the person choose to use drugs in the first place? How can they have a disease they have caused themselves?
Addiction Is Always A Mistake
First, it is important to remember that no one tries drugs for the first time expecting to become addicted. And no one sits around dreaming as a child that he can’t wait to grow up and become addicted. Addiction is always a mistake.
Everyone uses drugs believing that when things begin to get out of control, they will notice and be able to take steps backwards to keep things in check. But addiction doesn’t work like that. By the time people realize that they are dependent on the drug, the drug has already worked its magic on the brain. It is too late.
How Drugs Affect The Brain
Neurotransmitters are chemical messengers that direct us to feel, think, and behave. And they are matched specifically to their task. Some neurotransmitters help us stay alert when we’re in danger. Others help us regulate our body temperature.
Neurotransmitters work like the Pony Express or a relay race – they carry messages in stages, from one neuron to another, releasing them at a receptor site. The receptor site is like a docking station that fits only certain shaped objects. In fact, you can think of neurotransmitters as a key that will fit into a receptor “lock” site. When the receptor site is filled, a signal is sent to the next neuron to move into action, continuing the chain reaction.
Drugs are the aliens in the system –like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. They mimic specific neurotransmitters in size and shape, which means they can fit into receptor sites, which cause:
- More neurotransmitters to be released, essentially flooding the system
- A reduction in the amount of neurotransmitters produced, to better match the number of available receptor sites.
The “high” that people feel is thought to be the flood of neurotransmitters in the system.
Dopamine is one of the neurotransmitters most commonly affected by drugs. Dopamine is responsible for “good feelings,” rewards. Dopamine allows use to feel pleasure in the activities that help the species survive – pleasure in eating, drinking water, sex. Pleasure in caring for a baby and enjoyment of other people. Dopamine also helps us prioritize – what do we need to pay attention to NOW. How do we focus our attention on what matters. Other neurotransmitters affected by drugs include serotonin (which plays a role in anger, aggression, body temperature, mood, sleep, appetite), GABA (coping with stress), and Acetylcholine (memory).
But the body prefers homeostasis. When there is a flood or reduction in the levels of neurotransmtters, the body tries to compensate, to get things back into balance. It might:
- reduce the number of receptors
- release less neurotransmitter
Now, without the drug, the user begins to feel flat, lifeless, and depressed. The person now begins to need the drug in order to bring the level of neurotransmitters back to normal. And larger amounts of the drug are need to create neurotransmitter floods.
The problem is that drugs infiltrate the brain. They work stealthily to change the brain – both in structure and function. And because dopamine is related to how we prioritize things, drugs are flagged for special attention. In fact, one of the hallmarks of addiction is that people compulsively seek out drugs at the expense of everything else. They have hijacked the brain so that nothing else is more important.
