Understanding Addiction Research

Drug abuse is known as a disorder and is the habit of taking addictive or illegal drugs. When doing too many drugs, it causes the brain to change and causes drug addiction which creates a feeling of need and dependency on drug use. Although others would like to believe that the drug user should just change their behavior, they don't realize that even with the will to do so, it is quite difficult. Since one time is usually all it takes to get you hooked on a drug, the amount of people doing them have started to rise. During the year of 2013, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime got a total estimate of 246 million people worldwide that were found to be using drugs(“2015 World Drug Report…”). In the same year, the National Institute on

Drug abuse found that 24.6 million Americans had been using illicit drugs(“Nationwide Trends”). The number of drug abusers have been increasing as more people fall into addiction and as it it used at a young age. Although it may prove difficult for many, there are various types of treatments that are provided for those who seek help.
The term drug addiction is stated to be a chronic relapsing brain disease that causes an uncontrollable urge for drug use even when it becomes damaging to the body.

According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, brain images studies have shown changes in areas of the brain that effect judgment, memory, decision making, and behavior control(“Understanding Addiction”). It is believed that due to these changes, it is able to explain the rash behavior of those with an addiction. There are many factors that appear when discussing the susceptibility each person has to addiction. Some of the common risk factors are whether or not they had aggressive behavior during their childhood, had little parental supervision, or were living at poverty level. A person's genetics is another risk inducer and as stated by the National Institute on Drug Abuse it counts for about 40 to 60% of how affected the person is able to get by addiction(“Drug Abuse and Addiction”). Drug addiction is seen as a disease and like most diseases, there are many types of treatment for

it.
When trying to stop drug addiction, one of the methods to help stop is to take medication. There are different types but before taking medication, the person must first go through detoxification. This is when the drug user stops taking drugs in order to get all of the toxins out of the bloodstream. As written by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, it states that the use of medications while going through detoxification was about 80% when a 2014 study was made in treatment facilities(“Treatment Approaches…”). One of the most common medications for drug use are methadone,buprenorphine, and naltrexone. The methadone and buprenorphine are used to fight back withdrawal symptoms and help reduce cravings while the job of the naltrexone is to block off the receptors the brain receives from drugs. A newer version of buprenorphine is being made to become longer lasting and according to Colette Bouchez, award-winning medical journalist, even a new vaccine is in the process of being created that blocks the effects of a drug, like cocaine, starting in the blood rather than the brain(Bouchez). All of the medication that is taken is meant to reduce the need for drug use but there are other ways to fight addiction.
Rather than medication, therapy is used to mainly help with cravings and accepting a life without drugs. There are different types of therapies such as individual, group, behavioral, motivational, and family therapy. The one most needed depends on each person's addiction and personal need. When going through therapy, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in order for it to be of any help,the drug user cannot stop going in less than 90 days(“Principles of Effective Treatment”). There are more people that dropout on the treatment rather than completing it due to drug relapse and of other problems that happen . Although therapy is useful on it’s own, it is known to be the most successful when combined with medication. A study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that when both used at the same time, it leads to a more continuous and successful recovery(“MAT overview”). This method is also used to help drug use disorders.
The time that drug abuse occurs is usually during the teenage years. There are various reasons as to why they do this such as them attempting to fit in with the others who do it, as a way to show rebellion, and even just experimentation. Although the bigger reasons as to why they do it is to be able to feel better as an escape from stress, depression, or pain and overall to just feel good due to the high effect drugs give. A research done by the National Institute on Drug Abuse has found that half of high school students would have taken an illegal drug by the time that they are seniors(“Introduction”). Since this is the time of adolescence for a student, the brain would still be in development. Doing drugs during this time, according to the Science and Management of Addictions, would stand in the way of developing skills and would take the decisions related to drug use and fix them into the brain over time(“The Effects of Drugs…”). This would cause it to turn into a habit and because it is during adolescence, it could last throughout the rest of their lives.
To stop drug use at a young age, one of the options would be to try to prevent drug use from happening at all.

This can be done in various ways such as getting parents to be more alert of their teen, getting them into activities of their interests, or have discussions on peer pressure with them but one method that has seemed to work so far has been drug abuse prevention programs. A study found by the National Institute on Drug Abuse was able to discover that it has been scientifically proven to show positive results and has been able to lessen the use of illicit drugs in youth(“Preventing Drug Abuse…”). There are three different types of programs which are universal, selective, and indicated. In the universal program it speaks about protection and risk factors to children in a place like a school or community while in a selective program it focuses on children who are at high risk and those in the indicated program are those who are already using drugs. One research done by the American Psychological Association found a five year study of a total of 48 funded community substance abuse prevention programs that stated a drop of 10% in drug use near the end of the program and a 22% drop a couple months afterwards(“Researchers examine success…”). As they went along with these programs, they recorded that the boys had a more positive reaction to interaction with their peers while the girls responded better to behavioral life

skills.
When a person does drugs, it can turn into a habit they can’t easily escape from or maybe a sense of relief they want to have. Instead of getting smaller, the number of drugs being used has been growing. People of all ages can be affected but the younger people start first the most. Even with the numbers growing, there is research being done and treatments to help.