The Downward Spiral
No one wants to be a drug addict or alcoholic, but this doesn't stop
people from getting addicted. The most commonly asked question is simply
- how? How could my son, daughter, father, sister, or brother become a
liar, a thief, someone who cannot be trusted? How could this happen? And
why won't they stop?
 The
first thing you must understand about addiction is that alcohol and
addictive drugs are basically painkillers. They chemically kill physical
or emotional pain and alter the mind’s perception of reality. They
make people numb. For drugs to be attractive to a person there must
first be some underlying unhappiness, sense of hopelessness, or physical
pain.
What is A Drug?
Before we address the questions of cause, here is a little background
information. In medical terms, a drug is any substance that when taken
into a living organism may modify one or more of its functions. Drugs
can provide temporary relief from unhealthy symptoms and/or permanently
supply the body with a necessary substance the body can no longer make.
Some drugs produce unwanted side affects. In large enough doses, all
drugs are toxic. Some drugs lead to an unhealthy dependency that has
both physiological and behavioral roots.
What is Addiction?
Whether a person is genetically or biochemically predisposed to
addiction or alcoholism is a controversy that has been debated for years
within the scientific community. One school of thought advocates the
"disease concept", embracing the notion that addiction is an
inherited disease, and that the individual is permanently ill at a
genetic level, even for those experiencing long periods of sobriety.
How Do Drugs Affect The Mind?
The mind is our most important tool. With our mind, we
solve the problems we face in life. Drugs do several things that harm
one’s ability to think or to be fully aware of the present
surroundings. These effects continue long after the effects of the drug
appear to have worn off.
 Addictive
drugs activate the brain’s reward systems. The promise of reward is
very intense causing the individual to crave the drug and to focus their
their activities around taking the drug.
The ability of addictive drugs to strongly activate brain
reward mechanisms and their ability to chemically alter the normal
functioning of these systems can produce an addiction. Drugs also reduce a
person’s level of consciousness, harming the ability to think or be
fully aware of present surroundings.
After extended use, the person no longer responds to the
drug in the way that person initially responded. So for example, in the
case of heroin or morphine, tolerance develops rapidly to the analgesic
(painkilling) effects of the drug. While the development of tolerance is
not addiction, many drugs that produce tolerance also have addictive
potential.
The fact remains that there is scientific research to
support all of these concepts. The question of whether addiction is
genetic, behavioral or biochemical does not have an absolute answer. The
distinguishing feature of the condition commonly referred to as
addiction is the ability of the drug to dominate the individual’s
behavior, regardless of whether physical dependence is also produced by
the drug.
There are a wide variety of treatment methods being used
today, administered based on whatever school of thought the treatment
provider believes in. With a 16% to 20% recovery rate based on
statistical analysis of national averages, the message is clear that we
have a lot more to learn if we are to bring the national recovery rate
to a more desirable level.
There is another school of thought that has proven to be
more accurate. It has to do with the life cycle of addiction. This data is
universally applicable to addiction no matter which hypothesis is used to
explain the phenomenon of drug dependency.
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