1 | The Science of Addiction

2 | The Science of Addiction

Factors that Influence Addiction

Biological Factors Influencing Addiction

Environmental Factors Influencing Addiction

Addiction and the Brain

Treatment and Recovery

TOPICS TO DISCUSS

3 | The Science of Addiction

Substance addiction is a pandemic that affects millions of people of all ages, social backgrounds, and financial classes. It is not discriminatory of gender or race, and it can destroy the lives and futures of even the most successful individuals. People who suffer with substance addiction do not necessarily fit a particular type and mold. In fact, the faces of addiction are not always obvious – sometimes consisting of ‘regular people’ like stressed-out honor roll students or busy soccer moms.

From the outside looking in, drug or alcohol addiction may seem like a series of bad choices, or perhaps a lack of self-control. The truth is that addiction is a chronic condition that causes overwhelmingly compulsive behaviors that are uncontrollable and authoritative in the lives of those who are affected by them. It is often a single, voluntary action that instigates a lifetime of addiction – causing a person to spiral out of control. Once an addiction begins, the ability to reason and make sound judgments takes a backseat to the gratification and perceived fulfillment that drugs or alcohol provide. Addiction can supersede even the most important components of life, including a person’s closest relationships.

But a person struggling with substance abuse cannot merely ‘snap out of it’. Addiction is not self-indulgence or recreational – it’s a real problem that changes the chemical balances within the body. Scientists have spent years researching the power of addiction and how it works. Though there is still much to be learned about the complexity of substance abuse, researchers do understand the basic components of addiction within the body.

4 | The Science of Addiction

Factors that Influence Addiction

Substance addiction is not a condition that one is born with, but rather something that develops as a direct result of a stimulus. However, that’s not to say that people who never consume addictive substances will not form addiction. The truth is that there are many factors that influence addiction. In fact, people with addictive personalities or other risk factors may become addicted to a non-drug, such as food, exercise or video games in order to satisfy the high they crave. On the other hand, some people can experiment or recreationally engage in drinking or other behaviors without becoming addicted to them. In fact, only 1 in 10 who experiment with drugs ever become addicted.

So what exactly drives a person to become dependent on alcohol, drugs, or other habits? Could the problem be environmental or perhaps even genetic? Researchers from the National Institute on Drug Abuse have found that the answer is different for everyone; but both external and biological factors can influence the likelihood that a person will develop addiction.

5 | The Science of Addiction

Biological Factors Influencing Addiction

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Timing is perhaps one of the most important roles in addiction. Although anyone of any age can develop addictive behaviors, adolescents are particularly susceptible to dependency. The reason for this is that the adolescent brain is underdeveloped and particularly short on reasoning skills. Teenagers are not only more likely to take a risk by trying drugs or alcohol, but they are also more likely to continue using throughout life. For example, the University of Utah Genetic Science Learning Center found that 9 in 10 adults who currently smoke cigarettes first began using nicotine before their 18th birthdays. Similarly, 4 in 10 teenagers who begin drinking at age 13 or younger will develop alcoholism.

Genes are also linked to substance addiction. Unlike some diseases, for which risk is easily calculated by identifying the presence of a single gene, there is not one gene responsible for addiction – nor will there ever be. Instead, researchers have found that addiction occurs as the result of many gene interactions. Certain genes seem to be more closely linked to addiction than others, but testing for known addiction genes is unrealistic for most people. Furthermore, having a gene associated with addiction does not necessarily mean that a person will indeed develop an addiction. Instead, anyone with a family history of addiction should exercise caution in relation to any type of substance use.

teenagers who begin drinking at age 13 or younger will

develop alcoholism.

6 | The Science of Addiction

Environmental Factors Influencing Addiction

Environment plays a significant role in addiction. After all, a person may have biological tendencies toward drug or alcohol addiction, but those addictions may lie dormant until activated by an environmental factor. People of all ages are much more likely to abuse drugs if they associate with or are friends with other people who use drugs.

In addition to early drug and alcohol use, other factors can also increase the risk of developing addiction. Family conflicts, stress, depression, childhood traumas, and poor home environments are all common examples. In particular, people are especially prone to developing addictions during periods of transition. Change brings about new challenges, changes in relationships, and sometimes self-introspect. For an adult, this could be a new job, promotion, divorce, the birth of a child, or the loss of a loved one. For a child, this could be changes to household dynamic, transfer to a new school, the loss of a loved one, or greater academic challenges.

7 | The Science of Addiction

Addiction and the Brain

The brain is the epicenter of addiction. In fact, the faster a drug can bypass the senses and enter the brain, the more likely it is to become addicting. The brain is responsible for carrying out the most important functions of the body and also for responding to stimuli. Drugs and alcohol can adversely affect the composition of the brain, causing it to develop unhealthy dependency, cravings, and compulsions. These substances can impose on the neurotransmissions of the brain, overwhelming the brain’s ‘reward system’ with the ‘feel-good’ neuro-hormone known as dopamine. The result is a sense of euphoria and immense pleasure that drives a ‘need’ to consume the dopamine-inducing substance again in order to achieve a similar result, or ‘high’.

With time, the brain begins to acclimatize to external stimuli like drugs and alcohol. The body gets used to these substances, producing a high that becomes less and less gratifying with time. Initially, a person will increase the consumption of alcohol or the substance in an effort to compensate for adaptation. However, it is only a matter of time before the new limits of consumption and substance use become inadequate too. This is an effect known as tolerance, which will continue to build as the amount of drugs or alcohol continues to in increase to compensate for the tolerance that is built up over time.

Continuous abuse of alcohol or drugs not only wreaks havoc on the body’s internal systems, but it can also alter the composition and functions of the brain. In fact, the National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that long-term drug abuse can permanently damage the functions of the brain. Conditioning is a prime example of permanent cognitive damage caused by addiction. From birth, conditioning is one of the most fundamental modes by which humans learn. Conditioning occurs when the brain learns to associate a reward or punishment with a specific stimulus or environmental factor. For example, someone struggling with addiction may permanently associate certain friends, places, or activities with substance abuse. The brain creates a connection that drives a craving for drugs or alcohol when exposed to an associated stimulus. That means that long after treatment and a period of abstinence, conditioning can still incite seemingly uncontrollable cravings.

8 | The Science of Addiction

Treatment and Recovery

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Because substance addiction is so complex, there are multiple facets of treatment and recovery. In the initial phases, the person must cope with the physical consequences of addiction and chemical dependency. During this period, substance use may be phased out under the oversight of an addiction recovery professional. The body may react with severely unpleasant physical and emotional symptoms. Withdrawal may manifest as nausea, headaches, sleeplessness, anxiety, depression, or a number of other symptoms. In some cases, medications are prescribed to help alleviate the severity of withdrawal symptoms.

The next phase of treatment usually involves behavioral therapy. This is an effort to treat the entire person – not just the addiction. There are different factors that enforce addiction in each person. The goal of behavioral therapy is to identify those factors which are within the control of the patient. Individuals recovering from substance abuse can then learn how to modify certain behaviors and responses to cope with compulsions and avoid relapse. This includes avoiding the stimuli responsible for driving addictive cravings, as well as learning ways of managing addictive appetites when they are provoked.

Many people view addiction as an acute condition that can be treated and forgotten. While it is true that treatment is available for addiction, there is no ‘cure’. In fact, addiction is a chronic condition that can go into remission and reappear many months or years into recovery. People with a history of addiction are and always will be at risk for relapse. In fact, the relapse rate for substance addiction is between 40 and 60 percent – a rate that outpaces the relapse rate of people with a history of type 1 diabetes. That means that not only is relapse possible, but it is also highly probable. However, that does not mean that recovery has failed. It simply means that the addiction management plan needs to be revisited or adjusted.

The relapse rate for addiction is between

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