Our Brain and Addiction – Overview

Posted on November 20th, 2011

The brain can become addicted because of our genes, because of our early environment, because of a serious life event like the loss of a loved person, a pet, a job, a home.  

When we have experienced the loss of a loved one, our brain grieves not only the loss of that person (job, home, pet, etc.) but the loss of the wonderful feelings we experienced with them. 

This is not a small deal.  Those wonderful feelings – caused by chemicals in our brain – are felt in our body and then recognized by our brain as feeling safe and protected and loved – and as happiness. 

It is very normal to want to replace or replicate those wonderful feelings – and, because [obviously] we cannot bring back our loved one, our brain might motivate us to reach out for whatever else in our past made us feel good.  

Whether it was a substance or a behavior that made us feel good, our brain can too easily allow it to develop into an addiction.

Dr. Nora Volkow's research into addiction summarizes it thusly:

"The human brain is an extraordinarily complex and fine-tuned communications network containing billions of specialized cells (neurons) that give origin to our thoughts, emotions, perceptions and drives.

Often, a drug is taken the first time by choice to feel pleasure or to relieve depression or stress.

But this notion of choice is short-lived.

 Why?

Because repeated drug use disrupts well-balanced systems in the human brain in ways that persist, eventually replacing a person's normal needs and desires with a one-track mission to seek and use drugs.

At this point, normal desires and motives will have a hard time competing with the desire to take a drug.

Summary

• Addiction can develop despite a person's best intentions and in spite of their strength of character.
• Repeated drug use disrupts complex but well balanced systems in the human brain.
• Many people are addicted to more than one substance, complicating their efforts to recover."

 

http://www.hbo.com/addiction/understanding_addiction/12_pleasure_pathway.html

 

 

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