Alec Weeks

Addiction
Health 1020
Addiction is a growing problem, both on a local level and worldwide. These days the

scientific community recognizes addiction as a disease but it is still heavily stigmatized and not

well understood by the general population. How does addiction affect and change the brain?

Are some people more prone to addiction than others? Why? What is the difference between

substance addiction and behavioral addiction?

Theres a lot going on in the brain when we talk about addiction. The main ingredient

we need for addiction is something everyone already has: dopamine. Dopamine is a

neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, it is our brains reward system. Eat a good meal,

procreate, successfully survive an interaction with a predator, and our brain rewards us with

that sweet, sweet dopamine. This release of dopamine is how all addictions begin. Drugs,

alcohol, even facebook likes give us cheap, easy access to a flood of dopamine. Thats just the

start though. Our brain keeps track of how we achieved this pleasure and makes a memory as

well as forms a conditioned response to the stimuli. What this means is if Sarah takes a puff of a

joint, shes going to get a rush of dopamine and her brain is going to associate smoking that

joint with pleasure. Now heres where things start to get more complicated. To leave out all the

technical terms and put it simply; the pleasure/reward system in our brain is closely associated

with both motivation and survival. As we continue to repeat the process of tricking our reward

system, this addiction becomes intertwined with the motivation and survival areas of the brain.

Eventually we build up a tolerance to our addiction, our brain shuts off dopamine receptors or
simply produces less dopamine. For an addict at this point, the actual dopamine release or

pleasure from their activity of choice is gone, all that remains is the memory and the

conditioned response to the stimulus.

According to Harvard Medical School, almost 1 in 10 Americans (about 23 million) are

addicted to alcohol or other drugs. Because the government only gathers addiction statistics

related to substance abuse, the number of individuals suffering from other types of addiction is

unknown.

Studies on families, adoptions, and twins show that around 40%-60% of susceptibility to

addiction is hereditary. (Harvard). It seems to be that an individuals likelihood to develop an

addiction is 50% based on their genetics (nature) and 50% based on their environment and

situation (nurture). Interestingly, it seems that the type of addiction plays a large role in the

rate of heritability. For example: if your parent is addicted to cocaine, if you were to use

cocaine youd have about a 70% chance to become addicted. However, if your parent is

addicted to hallucinogens, you have about a 40% chance of becoming addicted when using

hallucinogens (Bevilacqua). When introduced to marijuana or alcohol before age 15, individuals

were found to be almost four times more likely to suffer from a substance abuse disorder than

those that waited until they were 18 to partake. (Statistics on Drug Addiction).

Amy Rothermel of Alpine Recovery Lodge identifies four groups of people more prone

to addiction and four factors that increase vulnerability. Young men and Caucasians are

Rothermels first vulnerable group. Children of addicts, those suffering from mental health
problems, and people with high IQs are the other vulnerable groups. The four factors are

genetics, stress, peer pressure and experimentation, and environment.

Only recently has non-substance related behavioral addiction been classified as a

medical disorder. Previously addiction was defined as a dependence on drugs or chemical

substances. Behavioral scientists argued that any source capable of stimulating an individual

can become addictive. The change of behavior from habit to compulsion is what we now define

as addiction whether it be addiction to gambling, exercising, social media, drugs, or sex. (Alavi).

Unfortunately, even with all the new recent knowledge about addiction, in the United

States it is still being treated as a crime rather than a disease. According to the Federal Bureau

of Prisons, 46% of inmates in the U.S. are there because of drug related offenses. Thats more

than 80,000 people incarcerated due to either their own addiction or fueling the addiction of

others. If we were to treat addiction as the mental health problem and disease it is and help

these people rather than throw them into prison we would be not only helping those with a

disease and decreasing the ridiculous number of inmates the U.S. has, but also making our

country a better, safer, and cleaner place to live.

Even though it is still heavily stigmatized, we are moving in the right direction in regard

to the ways we treat and think about addiction. Though some are more naturally prone to

addiction than others, it is important to remember that anyone could become an addict. At the

point of addiction, the addicts brain has already been hijacked and as a society we should help

them overcome this rather than putting them out of sight and out of mind. Classifying addiction

as a mental disorder in the U.S. was a gigantic leap forward and a few other countries have
decriminalized drugs and treat addiction entirely as a disease (with great results). Hopefully the

U.S. will continue to attempt to better understand and treat addiction.

 Sources
Alavi, S. S., Ferdosi, M., Jannatifard, F., Eslami, M., Alaghemandan, H., & Setare, M. (2012,
April). Behavioral Addiction versus Substance Addiction: Correspondence of Psychiatric
and Psychological Views. Retrieved November 5, 2017, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3354400/
Bevilacqua, L., & Goldman, D. (2009, April). Genes and Addictions. Retrieved November 5, 2017,
from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2715956/
Harvard Health Publishing. (2011, July). How addiction hijacks the brain. Retrieved November 5,
2017, from https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/how-addiction-hijacks-
the-brain
National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2015, July 29). Addiction Science. Retrieved November 5,
2017, from https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/addiction-science
Rothermel, A. (2016, May 11). Why Are Some People More Vulnerable to Addiction than Others
Alpine Recovery Lodge. Retrieved November 5, 2017, from
https://www.alpinerecoverylodge.com/why-are-some-people-more-vulnerable-to-
addiction-than-others/
Statistics on Drug Addiction. (n.d.). Retrieved November 5, 2017, from
https://americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/addiction-statistics/