Psychological dependence is when a person is addicted to drugs in his mind. It is when a person is addicted emotionally to the need for the substance or behavior.( )
The cells in the body may not battle through withdraw but the person still struggles with his will to quit or let go of the drugs. He may feel the need that he cannot live without the drugs. The research states that this is called the reinforcing behavior also known as the brains reward system. It provides a sense of calm or other effects that the person may desire while using those drugs.
Physical dependence has more to do with the symptoms your body shows after you stop taking the drugs that your body is accustomed to. A person can also have physiological dependence without having psychological dependence. The prime example for this is people who take painkillers. The body develops a dependence on the prescription and the person may develop tolerance and increase the prescription. The person has a physiological dependence on the
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After the struggle of remaining drug-free, your body starts to adapt and the physical symptoms tend to stop but the psychological aspect of craving and wanting to take the drugs again will always be there. A drug offender in prison can be drug-free for his or her term and show no sign of withdrawal symptoms upon release but as soon as they are free 60 to 80 percent end up back in prison for a drug-related crime. According to the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, approximately 95 percent of the drug offenders return to their habit of abusing drug after release from prison. It is especially hard to overcome psychological dependence if you hang around with the same people who do drugs. It is hard to quit in your mind when you are around the drugs and
Once these individuals in rehab serve there sentence the majority of them, won’t look straight to the next opportunity to get high, but the next opportunity for a better future after being encouraged in rehab to accomplish something in life, compared to someone’s attitude coming out of prison. One story involved a man named Richard with his wife Marcia. She was an addict who was often jailed for it, but Anthony believed like many others that “addiction can be overcome with proper help. He believed that the solution was to get her into a mental hospital [and] get her whatever she needs – Xanax, morphine, to get her chemical imbalance right. Show her some respect. (114)” Give her some working skills, so once she gets out she is capable of being successful but instead she kept getting “kicked down the steps” by the criminal justice system. The jailing and torture of addicts is routine to people serving cases for drug related offenses, who are often not built to endure prison, let alone jail. “The Justice Department estimates that 216,000 people are raped in these prisons every year. (This is the number of rapes, not the number of rapes – that is much higher.) (109)” This is ultimately shows the simple fact that many people are not built to endure
But often the symptoms do not stop at acute withdrawal. After the body makes initial adjustments to the absence of drugs, the changes that have occurred in the brain still need time to revert back to their original state. During this period, a variety of symptoms known as Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS) begin to occur. In the book Uppers, Downers, All Arounders, published by CNS Productions, authors Darryl Inaba and William Cohen define PAWS as “a group of emotional and physical symptoms that appear after major withdrawal symptoms have abated” (Inaba & Cohen, 2011).
There are many biological factors that are involved with the addicted brain. "The addicted brain is distinctly different from the nonaddicted brain, as manifested by changes in brain metabolic activity, receptor availability, gene expression, and responsiveness to environmental cues." (2) In the brain, there are many changes that take place when drugs enter a person's blood stream. The pathway in the brain that the drugs take is first to the ventral tegmentum to the nucleus accumbens, and the drugs also go to the limbic system and the orbitofrontal cortex, which is called the mesolimbic reward system. The activation of this reward system seems to be the common element in what hooks drug users on drugs (2).
Drug addiction is often characterized as being a complex brain disease that causes compulsive, uncontrollable, drug craving, seeking and use without any regards to the consequences they may bring upon themselves, or society. As long as the brain is exposed to these large amounts of dopamine on the reward system, it will inevitably develop a tolerance to the current dopamine levels, which it is receiving, lessening the pleasure the user will experience. In order to satisfy the brains “reward...
Dependence can be a caused be manipulation that many don't realize that they are being swindled. Dependence can cause people to do idiotic deeds that endanger many. While many revert to this dependent state, for many there is "A moment of lyric consciousness [that] expands and reiterates itself until it is resolved by social
Substance abuse is when a person want their mind to be altered with the use of drugs. Substance abuse affect all ages, race, religion, and income. When it comes to the characteristics of substance abusers there are many factors one must consider such as internal and external, physical, behavioral, and psychological. According to Demand Media (2013), stated that internal substance abuse is when someone feels the need to use drugs regularly, having that feeling like you need the drug to get through problems and have trouble when one is trying to stop taking the drug. External substance abuse characteristic is when people often notice behavioral, physical, and psychological changes (Demand Media, 2013). According to demand media, (2013), stated that physical changes are lack in hygiene, changes in the person pupils such as being dilated or constricted, and changes in their weight. Some behavioral changes are decrease in work performance, changes in the type of friends and interest and asking for/ or need money (Demand Media, 2013). Psychological changes are personality change, mood swings an...
Stat News states that physical dependence to opioids means that the body relies on an external source of opioids to prevent withdrawal, and treatment is predictable, and can be easily managed with medication, resulting with a slow taper-off of the opioid.
Drug addiction is more complicated than medicine thought in previous years. It’s not because someone is weak or unable to control themselves. They are chemical such a dopamine in the human body that makes the process difficult. The brain works in a neuropath way and drug interrupt the normal process which stops the frontal lobe to work as it should. Treatment isn’t done right and patients tend to repeat their habit after they get out of rehab. Psychological treatment is not as effective as chemical injection for dopamine to reward the brain. However, even after the treatment is complete, it will be a life struggle to stay away from drugs since the brain will always look for a simpler way to reward itself.
The repeated use of drugs often causes both physical and psychological dependence, as mentioned in an article by the Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia (“Drug Dependence”). In order for an individual to truly be set free from their addiction, seeking treatment is necessary. Rehab centers are a great place with scientifically proven methods to cure those addicted to drugs. It is important to try to end drug use in our country, rather than allowing it to continue longer than it already has. While funding for rehabilitation facilities could become an issue, drug users may continue their addiction without proper treatment, and therefore those arrested for drug use should be sent to a rehabilitation center instead of prison.
The brain becomes accustomed to the chemical changes caused by the chemical changes caused by the substance. It begins to alter its normal production and starts releasing neurotransmitters. The user begins to lose control and has difficulty limiting their drug intake; the need to consume the substance becomes more compulsive because it has affected the region of the brain that controls impulse, behavior, and craving.
When a person first uses drugs, it is voluntary. After repeated use the user has becomes conditioned to keep using. The reason this happens is because drugs effect the brain’s reward center by filling it with dopamine. This makes the user feel pleasure by using which then makes the user want to keep using. When comparing this to classical conditioning the Neutral stimuli would be the environmental stimuli associated with drug administration, the unconditioned stimulus would be drugs effect on the brain, and the unconditioned response would be the reward received by doing drugs. After repeated use the conditioned response is now the environmental stimuli associated with drug use and the conditioned response is the reward received by doing drugs. Like with Pavlov’s dogs’ triggers response to the lab assistant and bell, Addicts can have triggers as well. Certain smalls, locations and situations can trigger and addict to use. For example, every day from work an addict sits down on their back porch and smoke a marijuana cigarette. The back porch would then become a trigger. So, every time the addict sits on their porch they then crave the marijuana cigarette. When someone is clean or sober, these triggers can lead to
Without contrast, the primary reason for drug abuse in individuals comes from the conscious state of addiction. According to Webster’s, addiction is described as “the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity (Hacker, 2011).” Sure, human nature’s desire to conform to peer pressure might cause one to first try a certain drug, but the euphoric mental states found in drugs mentally trap many individuals into becoming dependent upon these sensations. With that being said, these sensations vary depending on the type of drug used.
To begin with, the people who are addicted to drugs are hard to get rid of taking. Normally, a lot of people assumed that because of the lack of moral principles and willpower, the drug abusers cannot stop abusing through changing their behavior (NIH 2012). But in the real world, giving up abusing takes more than strongly will, because the ways of brain is changed by drugs that enhance the compulsive drug abuse. As a result, it is difficult of drug users to stop abusing the drugs.
The addict becomes dependent on the drug. The addict uses it, despite having full knowledge of its harmful effects on health. It is considered a brain disease because it changes the structure and functioning of the brain.There is an uncontrollable desire or craving to consume the drug. Addicted people often engage in compulsive behavior to obtain the drugs. The addicts find if impossible to control the drug intake. In case of drug abuse, people start taking drugs in larger doses than the recommended doses. The addict is not able to discharge his/her day-to-day responsibilities in an efficient manner. It effects both the physical and mental health of the addict. Very often, addicts witness extreme changes in body weight. Very often, the addict stops socializing.Sometimes, drug addiction is also referred to as drug dependency since the addict develops dependency or addiction for a particular
In conclusion drug addiction is a very terrible and challenging problem. It affects individuals, families, and the people around them. It is important that drug addicts realize that they must want to stop and seek help for the problem. The drug addict needs the support of friends and family, so they can make it through this process. The process to recover from drug addiction can take a lifetime. There is hope for a drug addict who wants to change their life for the better.