Factors of Addiction<o
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Addiction is a powerful thing, it can overcome us all. People very often underestimate the intensity and power of addiction. The dictionary defines addiction as the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma. What this means is the body becomes emotionally, physically, or mentally attached to a certain substance. The severity truly depends on the substance itself. Addiction can be through anything, whether it is chocolate, or heroin. Addiction is not only physical, but mental and emotional as well. Emotional addiction is where the person endures the substance for their well being, this is the worst type of addiction between the three. The person feels euphoric when he or she takes in the substance. This is bad because they will need to lean on it in all times in need. Over a period of time, the person will find themselves needing the substance for everything. The person may have an empty bank account because of this addiction as well. Mental addiction is the lesser of the two. This addiction consists on a false belief they he or she endures the substance to enhance their life. This goes on until he or she cannot distinguish reality from there own perception. When this happens, there should be clear signs to the addicts loved ones that something is going wrong. This is where the debate of marijuana comes into order. Marijuana for medical use has been allowed in our own province and many states around the <st1
lace w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1
lace> This is because it eases the pain of Glaucoma, Leukemia, and many other disabilities and diseases. The philosophical dictionary states moderation as a person who has the virtue of moderation subordinates the desire for pleasure to the dictates of reason. For Aristotle, all virtues are to be understood as the mean between vicious extremes. This one word, moderation, is what separates human from addict. Although moderation is the key to an addiction free lifestyle, this is not the only factor that affect’s addiction.<o
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A large study of 2,634 public high school students in <st1
lace w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Oregon</st1:State></st1
lace> in 1968 analyzed the social and environmental factors of adolescent drug use. Strong correlation of drug use was associated with broken families, income less then $3,000, substandard housing, housing value less then $5000 and renter occupancy. These studies help prove that social and environmental factors in the early years of a child’s life will contribute to future use of illegal substances, eventually leading to addiction. <o
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Methamphetamine (Crystal Meth) is one of the most addicting substances on the face of this earth. This is a segment from an interview with a former meth addict named Ann.<o
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It’s unbelievable and usually what happens is you end up being homeless. I ended up homeless in two weeks. You’re caught. Trapped. If you don’t do the drug, you can’t get up off the ground. You can’t even lift up your head – it feels like it weighs 300 pounds. <o
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The problem is that Meth causes a drug-induced schizophrenia. They get paranoid, they become psychotic and aggressive. The most passive person in the world will become aggressive on Meth. My husband was like that – he was just as bad as I was. He sold my Christmas turkey for dope one year. I did the dope with him. That’s how insane it is. <sup>1</sup><o
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This type of addiction is a powerful thing and to conquer it one must first take one serious step. Denial is the one barrier holding the addict away from help. Crystal Meth literally can turn an individual on the street in two weeks. Some of the physical affects are hard to believe. One high dose of Crystal Meth in an animal is proved to damage nerve terminals. Now that is only once, addicts tend to snort, shoot, or smoke Meth several times a day. Some long-term effects include:<o
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Dependence <o
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Addiction psychosis<o
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Paranoia<o
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Hallucinations<o
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Mood disturbances <o
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Repetitive motor activity<o
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Stroke<o
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Weight loss<o
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These are only a few of the many seriously damaging affects that Crystal Meth has on the body and mind. It is not likely that the person would be able to function properly with any ONE of these symptoms. <o
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However, there are many studies that conclude addiction to being environmentally and socially influenced. <o
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In 1994 a man by the name of Robbins studied the effects of narcotics on the Vietnam War Veterans. Between the years 1960-1974 there was close to half a million lower-middle class boys sent to fight. The average age of the soldiers was only 19 years old and the constant sight of mutilation began to take a toll of the boys. Around 90 percent of the soldiers became addicted to narcotics. Many people at the pentagon became worried that all of the veterans would return as drug addicts. Contrary to this popular belief less then 2 percent of the men were addicted once they returned. This is because the stimulus that created a desire for narcotics was not present. Stimuli could include the sights, smells and sounds of both <st1:country-region w:st="on">Vietnam</st1:country-region> and war were (for the most part) not present in the <st1
lace w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1
lace>. Most of the returning soldiers who were still addicts could have been stimulated by the same warm and moist conditions of the south-western <st1
lace w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1
lace>. This case study proves that human beings are driven by conditioned stimulus. This goes to show that a change in environment can result in a change in behavior, even in one as strong as narcotics addiction. This study can help modern day psychologists to stop many types of addiction.<o
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There are different substances that affect people in different ways. A 2005 study shows that family atmosphere, strength of family relationships, sense of family tranquility, family hierarchy and alcoholism as the main factors influencing the future drug use of the children. The study also shows that hostility and chaos in a family greatly increases the risk of developing drug addiction. In families where the parental authority figure was the mother rather then the father, likelihood of drug use in the children also increased. In almost half of the cases where the child became addicted to drugs there was alcohol consumption in the family.<o
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Addiction creates itself in many unique ways through the most unsuspecting substances as well. An example of such would be chocolate. A “chocoholics” addiction starts out by an upsetting day, and what better to relax watch a movie and eat chocolate? What the user doesn’t know is that chocolate has the active ingredients phenylethylamine, theobromine, anandamide and tryptophan. These trigger mood enhancing neurotransmitters and chemicals that are eventually released in the brain, causing one to be happier, because of chocolate. As great as this sounds, this is a textbook example for addiction. Easy access, cheap, and it is a psychological stimulator. This is only a stimulant to addiction to more food. This is where many cases of obesity come into order. Obesity is a nation wide epidemic and many cases involve depression, causing addiction to a certain food. This then causes severe to fatal health problems. Obesity, why is it such a big deal? There is only one true answer, the media.<o
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The media is one of the most influential factors on today’s modern society. What is cool? What is lame? How should I look? These are all occurring questions asked by many of today’s youth and teen children. This could possibly be the reason kids decided to try their first drug all in itself. With popular media figures advertising the use and distribution, a lot of today’s modern drug abusers started drugs because of the influence the media has on it. Examples of such media figures are Afroman, Cypress Hill and Dr. Dre. This is a truly a bad thing because according to the Asche’s conformity experiment when suggested to pick one answer over the other and 2/3’s of the surveyed people conformed to the suggestion. This shows the obvious ability to conform in humans. If we as humans conform easily then let us take a look at a few of the factors that help us to conform to many daily activities and situations. Well there is only one thing that truly came to mind when discussing factors that influence conformity to any degree. A person’s position in society is the main factor to be the main reason for conformity in humans. But what if this isn’t just limited to conformity? What if a person’s role in society tied into addiction? What if a person’s position in society determined the ability to conform one another and the intensity of addiction? Here below is an excerpt from a news article found on the internet.<o
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Monkeys at the bottom of the social dominance hierarchy are more prone to cocaine addiction, say researchers. But they caution against making direct comparisons with humans.<o
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"The positive spin on our findings is that enriching the environment can produce large and robust changes in the brain," says Michael Nader at <st1
lace w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Wake</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Forest</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></st1
lace>. "These lower the propensity for using drugs."<o
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But he rejects the simplistic interpretation that the changes he has identified might underlie any link between cocaine use and social exclusion in humans.<o
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The researchers set up a social group of 20 macaques and after three months the dominance hierarchy in the group was established. PET scans of the monkeys' brains revealed that dominant monkeys had a 20 per cent increase in D<sub>2</sub> dopamine receptors compared with subordinates.<o
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Dopamine is a chemical messenger that is released at junctions between nerves. The pathway transmits pleasure and pain sensations and is directly affected by drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy which boost dopamine levels.<o
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The monkeys were trained to self-administer cocaine. While both dominants and subordinates used the drug, only the subordinate monkeys became addicted.<o
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Social status is a definite contributing factor to the likelihood of drug addiction. A 2002 study on macaques monkeys show that low social rank monkeys (subordinate) were more prone to cocaine addiction then their dominant counterparts. Scientists are saying that social rank may lead to changes in brain chemistry. This relates to the levels of dopamine in each of the social ranks of the macaques. The dominant monkeys’ already high level of this chemical, which is associated in the ‘reward system’ of the brain may be responsible for the fact that they were less likely to use cocaine. The researchers figured this out by placing 20 monkeys that were caged by themselves for a year and a half into five groups of four. Once the hierarchy was established in each of these groups they were taught how to self-administer doses of cocaine. After they compared the monkey’s brain activity and other research before and after being placed in groups they concluded that dopamine levels in the five dominant monkeys greatly rose due to the fact that they were in control of the more submissive subordinate monkeys. Therefore the dominant monkeys were less likely to use the cocaine because of already high levels of the natural dopamine. The subordinate monkeys used the substance as a way of making up for lack of social rank, which is shown by their regularly lower levels of dopamine. <o
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Environment is a very strong factor in addiction. The environment that the drug addict is in when they use becomes a set of stimuli. These environmental triggers and cues contribute to the intense cravings for a substance. Once the first trigger sets off, the user becomes a victim of the vicious cycle of addiction. This cycle only grows when the user becomes victim to many more triggers, and as time goes by, the addicted user becomes trapped, helpless. <o
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A large study of 2,634 public high school students in <st1
lace w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Oregon</st1:State></st1
lace> in 1968 analyzed the social and environmental factors of adolescent drug use. Strong correlation of drug use was associated with broken families, income less then $3,000, substandard housing, housing value less then $5000 and renter occupancy. These studies help prove that social and environmental factors in the early years of a child’s life will contribute to future use of illegal substances, eventually leading to addiction. <o
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Addiction is a very complex condition, and it is influenced by many different factors. Family ties, atmosphere and sense of happiness and structure of authority in a family are all strong factors in developing drug habits later on in life. These views can be carried on later on in life when a social rank is developed Social rank plays a powerful role in addiction. Social rank influences addiction because the established hierarchy has many advantages over the lower ranked specimen. All these advantages create a circumstance from which the hierarchy does not gain the condition of addiction and the lower ranked specimen do. Environment also plays a large role as the environmental triggers are among the most powerful factors in addiction. Overcoming addiction can only be possible with change. A change in social environment as well as the places around us can have an extraordinary impact on addiction. The definition of addiction is always changing, views on the causes of addiction and what it is are constantly being explored, but one thing we know for sure is that the social and environmental factors of addiction are among the strongest factors that exist.
i wrote this when i was 16 by the way.(gr 11)
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