Addiction Therapy
Addiction Therapy
What is Addiction?
- Much controversy and debate over definition
- A recurring compulsion to engage in some specific activity
- Dependency is also a key factor
- Physical dependency
- Withdrawal symptoms - can be mild or serious, headaches, seizures, or even death
- Psychological dependency
- Withdrawal symptoms - cravings, irritability, insomnia, depression, anorexia
How does Addiction start?
- Many different ideas and models, clearly not just one way.
- Initially, the addictive behavior or substance causes pleasure. People continue for fun.
- Later, the absence of the behavior or substance causes displeasure, anxiety, etc. People continue in order to avoid discomfort and pain
Can anyone become addicted?
- Yes. There are, however, many risks factors.
- Personality
- Depression, attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, aggressive nature, lack of self-control
- Social environment
- Peer pressure, lack of parental attachment or supervision
- Anxiety, depression, loneliness
- People develop coping mechanisms
- Genetics
- If you have family members who are addicts, you are more likely to become an addict
- Type of substance / drug
- Some drugs are highly physically addictive
The Chemistry of Addiction
- Dopamine - a neurotransmitter
- Though other neurotransmitters and aspects of brain chemistry are affected in the addiction process, dopamine has the biggest role.
- Dopamine affects brain processes that control movement, emotional response, and ability to experience pleasure and pain.
- Regulation of dopamine plays a crucial role in our mental and physical health.
- Some drugs can bind to dopamine receptor sites on neurons, thereby increasing the amount of free dopamine in your brain.
- Likewise, pleasurable activity also increases dopamine levels.
- Repeated states of those high dopamine levels causes desensitization, also known as tolerance, which is the brain's way of trying to maintain homeostasis, or 'even things out'.
- The result is that the person will need more of the substance or behavior in order to get pleasure.
- By this time, a physical or psychological dependence may have developed.
- Then, the person needs to continue in order to avoid unpleasant withdrawal symptoms, rather than for pleasure.
Chinese Medical Treatment
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- Auricular acupuncture is the most widely used Chinese medical treatment for addiction, with over 1500 centers worldwide, including about 800 in the USA.
