Yes Addiction “Hijacks” the Brain

Addiction involves craving for something intensely, loss of control over its use, and continuing involvement with it despite adverse consequences.

Addiction changes the brain, first by subverting the way it registers pleasure and then by corrupting other normal drives such as learning and motivation. Although breaking an addiction is tough hence it can be done.

Addiction extracts a long and powerful influence on the brain that manifests in three distinct ways.

·      Craving for the object of Addiction.

·      Loss of Control over its use.

·      Continuing involvement with it despite Adverse Consequences.

For many years, experts believed that only Alcohol and powerful Drugs could cause Addiction. Neuroimaging technologies and more recent researches, have shown that certain pleasurable Activities, such as Gambling, Shopping, and Sex, can also co-opt the brain.

Although multiple addictions, each tied to a specific substance or activity, consensus is emerging that these may represent multiple expressions of a common underlying brain process.

Nobody starts out intending to develop an Addiction, but many people get caught in its Snare.

In the 1930s, when researchers first began to investigate what caused addictive behavior, they believed that people who developed addictions were somehow morally flawed or lacking in willpower.

Overcoming addiction, they thought, involved punishing miscreants or, alternately, encouraging them to muster the will to break a habit.

Today we recognize addiction as a chronic disease that changes both brain structure and function. Just like.

·      Cardiovascular disease damages the heart.

·      Diabetes impairs the pancreas.

·      Addiction hijacks the brain.

This happens as the brain goes through a series of changes, beginning with recognition of pleasure and ending with a drive toward compulsive behavior.

The brain registers all pleasures in the same way, whether they originate with a psychoactive drug, a monetary reward, a sexual encounter, or a satisfying meal. In the brain, pleasure has a distinct signature: the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the nucleus accumbens, a cluster of nerve cells lying underneath the cerebral cortex,

All drugs of abuse, from Alcohol to heroin, cause a particularly powerful surge of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens.

The likelihood that the use of a drug or participation in a rewarding activity will lead to addiction is directly linked to the speed with which it promotes dopamine release, the intensity of that release, and the reliability of that release.

Even taking the same drug through different methods of administration can influence how likely it is to lead to addiction.

Addictive drugs provide a shortcut to the brain’s reward system by flooding the nucleus accumbens with dopamine. The hippocampus lays down memories of this rapid sense of satisfaction, and the amygdala creates a conditioned response to certain stimuli.

Scientists once believed that the experience of pleasure alone was enough to prompt people to continue seeking an addictive substance or activity. But more recent research suggests that the situation is more complicated. Dopamine not only contributes to the experience of pleasure, but also plays a role in learning and memory — two key elements in the transition from liking something to becoming addicted to it.

The reward circuit in the brain includes areas involved with motivation and memory as well as with pleasure. Addictive substances and behaviors stimulate the same circuit, and then overload it.

Determining whether you have addiction isn’t completely straightforward. And admitting it isn’t easy, largely because of the stigma and shame associated with addiction. But acknowledging the problem is the first step toward recovery.

A “yes” answer to any of the following three questions suggests you might have a problem with addiction and should be at the very least stage consult a health care provider for further evaluation and guidance.

1. Do you use more of the substance or engage in the behavior more often than in the past?

2.                       Do you have withdrawal symptoms when you don’t have the substance or engage in the behavior?

3.                       Have you ever lied to anyone about your use of the substance or extent of your behavior?

Over time, the brain adapts in a way that actually makes the sought-after substance or activity less pleasurable.

In nature, rewards usually come only with time and effort. Addictive drugs and behaviors provide a shortcut, flooding the brain with dopamine and other neurotransmitters. Our brains do not have an easy way to withstand the onslaught.

Addictive drugs, can release two to 10 times the amount of dopamine that natural rewards do, and they do it more quickly and more reliably. In a person who becomes addicted, brain receptors become overwhelmed. The brain responds by producing less dopamine or eliminating dopamine receptors — an adaptation similar to turning the volume down on a loudspeaker when noise becomes too loud.

As a result of these adaptations, dopamine has less impact on the brain’s reward center. People who develop an addiction typically find that, in time, the desired substance no longer gives them as much pleasure. They have to take more of it to obtain the same dopamine “high” because their brains have adapted — an effect known as tolerance.

Cravings contribute not only to addiction but to relapse after a hard-won sobriety.

A person addicted to heroin may be in danger of relapse when he sees a hypodermic needle, for example, while another person might start to drink again after seeing a bottle of whiskey. Conditioned learning helps explain why people who develop an addiction risk relapse even after years of abstinence.

It is not enough to “just say no” — as the 1980s slogan suggested. Instead, you can protect and heal (by the help of an ex-problem addict or Alcoholic) from addiction by saying “yes” to other things. Cultivate diverse interests that provide meaning to your life.

 Understand that your problems usually are transient, and perhaps most importantly, acknowledge that life is not always supposed to be pleasurable.