What is the addiction, really? Are there many types of addictions? Why people became in drug addicts? How big is the impact of addiction in our society? Those questions content good points to be supported. For many years, addiction has been a dreadful problem to carry on and comprehend.
Recently, new researches explain that addiction is more than that; addiction involves many aspects that flourish it. Through these researches; specialist of addiction like psychologists and psychiatrists can give details concerning to more than one characteristic that is comparative with addicted people directly.
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Frequently, psychologists ask their patients why they do drugs. Thus, a patient said that ‘‘the first time I did heroin, it felt like a warm soft hug’’ (Maté, 157). Gabor Maté is the Psychologist who receives this particular answer. According to this answer, addiction denotes a hard connection related to emotions, like ‘‘a warm soft hug’’.
By contrast, this phrase looks like very contradictory. How could addiction be linked with specific feelings or lots of them? Although, Dr. Gabor Maté said in a website video, ‘‘Addiction is any behavior that gives you temporary pleasure but in the long term causes harm, has some negative consequences and you can’t give it up despite of those negative consequences’’, Specialist in terminal illnesses in Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, Canada. These negatives consequences seem obvious, according to Gabor Maté, addiction can’t be alone.
Something happens that create a whole addiction in people. Dr. Lance Dodes, a Psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School Division on Addiction, says that ‘‘Addiction is a human problem that resides in people, not in the drugs or in the drugs capacity to produce physical effects’’ (134). This assumption explains that addiction is just a part of the trouble.
Now, we know that something very punctual is causing the whole addiction. Someone can say that all human behaviors can be inherited. But, it is not really truth. Genetics can be modified through years, though. Environment acts as a crucial component to make the final contribution in human beings. Genetics doesn’t work as a robot.
Nevertheless, there are very small behaviors and diseases that are directly genetics on population. Dr. Nora Volknow, Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse says the following ones:
Recent brain imaging studies have released on underlying disruption to the brain regions that are important for the normal processes of motivation, reward and inhibitory control in addicted individuals. This provides the basis for a different view: that drug addiction is a disease of the brain, and the associated abnormal behaviors is the result of dysfunction of the brain tissues just a cardiac insufficiency is a disease of the heart (125).
This result is to explain the environmental contribution on human beings.
So, drug addicts are not really addicted itself. They are susceptible with reference to a particular substance or behavior. Many people go shopping, but not all of them become in compulsive shopper. Many people eat, but not all of them become in food addicts. And many people drink alcohol, but not all of them become in alcoholics.
Always, environment causes a high impact in people, especially as embryo and on their first years of life. Therefore, human brain changes constantly which develops an interaction with environment. If someone is victim of a bad experience, a specific part of the human brain doesn’t develop properly or changes anyway.
This bad experience produces pain or a negative attitude that changes the human brain. As R.D Laing, a British Psychiatrist says in a website video, ‘‘an addicted personality may be defined as a psychological setback that makes a person more susceptible to addictions. This can include anything from drugs and alcohol abuse, pornography addictions, gambling addiction, internet addiction and even relationship with others’’. Those arguments explain that there are many types of addictions.
This mad experience looks for satisfying this emptiness from the outside. In other words, this emptiness produces a positive expectation that turn on the endorphin system, <The placebo effect> (152). So, the main question, as D.r Gabor Maté said is ‘‘Why not the addiction, but why the pain’’.
As conclusion, those references give us crucial tips related to the impact of addiction in our society. There is a myth which says that <Drugs are addictive>. This myth is false. Drugs can be considered as addictive as any behavior or substance. There are many types of addictions which destroy all humans daily. Some people destroy themselves and others destroy all natural resources that earth provides. Then, this scenario would represent our destruction if we, as human beings, don’t stop this cancer. With better environmental conditions, this situation can change and everyone can live in a better society.
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