A Look At Addiction

Although a great deal of research has been done on the subject of addiction, we really don’t know precisely what causes it. It’s generally agreed that the person addicted to a substance like alcohol or methamphetamine or cocaine, or other drug, has a chemical imbalance in the brain. Once the person has used the drug or drugs of choice for awhile, that imbalance causes an intense physical and psychological need for that drug and/or drugs like it.

What’s unclear is why one person becomes addicted and another doesn’t. There are definite indications that at least the tendency to become addicted may be inherited, but the exact nature of genetic influences is as yet poorly understood. And genetics certainly isn’t the whole story. Environment also plays a definite but poorly understood roll.

What is understood is that the person who is addicted to drugs and/or or alcohol literally cannot change their addictive behavior through willpower alone. People become addicted to substances like nicotine, alcohol, heroine and other drugs because taking them initially makes them feel better about themselves and their lives. The substances work for awhile.

At some point, however, the addict crosses an invisible line and the substance no longer works in the sense of making them feel better, but instead, through brain chemistry, sets up a pattern of demanding more and more of the drug of choice in order to feel even close to normal. It’s at this point that it can be said the person is addicted.
 

It is also generally agreed that the best solution, probably the only solution for addiction is for the addict to abstain from the drug of choice and other drugs entirely. There is yet, and perhaps never will be, a cure in the sense that the addict will be able to use the drug in question with impunity.

Abstaining is easier said than done. When an addicted person attempts to quit their drug(s) of choice their bodies and brain start going through a series of symptoms known collectively as withdrawal. In many cases, withdrawal is severe and even dangerous. The exact withdrawal symptoms a person will experience depends to a large degree on their drug of choice; the severity is probably linked to both their use of that drug over time and the quantity of the drug used on a daily or weekly basis.

Another common characteristic is that the addict is often in a state of denial, sure that somehow they can control their use of the drugs. Until that denial is broken, successful treatment from the drug is likely to be temporary.

Medical treatment, which often can be paid for with an affordable individual health insurance coverage plan, can be helpful in several ways, including:

• Assessing any physical damage the drug use has caused, which may help the addict quit denying the addiction.
• Prescribing medicines and diet and counseling that may reduce some of the pain of withdrawal.
• Helping the family understand that addiction is a true illness rather than a failure of will.
• Evaluating the addict for additional mental problems like clinical depression or anxiety, which if found need to be included in the treatment approach.

But medical treatment is only a start. Life-long abstaining is what’s called for and that generally requires some sort of support system. It will come as no surprise that my favorite support system is Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and/or any other 12 Step Program.

Understanding addiction is definitely a part of recovery, but it is only a part, and in some ways, a small part at that. Some sort of total personality reorganization is what is actually required and the 12 Step programs provide a way to accomplish that.