Addiction and Brain Connections

Addiction is no small factor in our society nor is it a simple issue with easy answers.  Many aspects surrounding addiction to this day remain a mystery. However, some scientists in Massachusetts say they’re developing a greater understanding on the role of the brain when it comes to addiction. Their work continues to show that addiction is a complex brain disease that is extremely subjective, however it raises hopes about potential treatments.

One of the findings among many discovered by the University of Massachusetts Medical School scientists is that addiction seems to permanently affect connections between certain areas in the brain. “Hard-wiring” the brain to support addiction, making it far more difficult to treat permanently.

Most of the studies being done involve nicotine, one of the most addictive substances in the world. Dr. Joeseph DiFranza, a family doctor and professor of family medicine and community health at the medical school, studies the brain activity of smokers using MRIs. He suggests that what occurs in the brain when someone craves a cigarette is the same thing that happens when a person is hungry. In turn, the brain will not quiet down until the need is met.

“We put people in the [MRI] who haven’t smoked overnight and these specific areas of the brain become activated,” he said. “The more the person reports they’re craving a cigarette, the more activation there are in these regions of the brain. This is not something that we understood even a year ago. We thought craving was [based] on cues.”

Through his studies DiFranza discovered that addiction affects the connections in the brain, sometimes permanently. In certain cases he says the brain is in fact supporting the addictive behavior. As cravings increase, connections from the anterior cingulate (the region of the brain where cravings originate) to the frontal cortex (responsible for self-control)

“They’ve lost about two-thirds of the nerve fibers connecting the part of the brain responsible for the self control to the part where the craving is generated,” said DiFranza. “So people face some major obstacles when they quit because their brain is actually hard-wired now to support that addiction.”

What scientists have yet to discovery is exactly why certain people become addicts while others do not. Like many things in this world, it’s a highly subjective disease. What this means, the scientists say, is that addiction treatment must be individualized to take into account that addiction itself changes the brain.

Dr. Jean King, professor of psychiatry and associate provost for biomedical science research, says with addiction it’s not likely that there will ever be one “cure.”

This is why in recovery, it’s always important to seek out various forms of recovery and treatment. No one method will work for everyone. Finding one suited for you is the most important and rewarding thing one can do for themselves.

Read More: http://commonhealth.wbur.org/2014/07/addiction-brain

Playing The Tape Forward

There are many tools designed to help deal with the psychological difficulties associated with the recovery process. Several designed specifically to help deal with urges, which are not only dangerous but extremely common in early and later stages of recovery. One tool I like is called “Playing the tape forward”. It’s very simple and straight forward and seemingly obvious yet something we don’t often let ourselves do.

When we get an urge, we generally begin to play out the familiar process in our heads. We begin with how we’re going to obtain acquire the drug or bottle, where we’re going to drink it. How we’re going to hide it.. our thought process seems to stop there. Sure we can think lightly about the consequences that may occur but generally we don’t let ourselves focus on the negative and instead focus on our desire.

Next time you’re feeling an urge, play it all out like this. Think about how you’re going to get your drug of choice, where you’re going to take/drink/smoke it, what you’ll do. Then based on all of your past experiences think thoroughly about everything that will follow. Surely you’ve been through it all before and generally it all plays out the same way.

Here’s a specific example: Going to obtain the alcohol, sneak it into the house and drink it in the bathroom. Try to cover it up with mouth wash, however it likely won’t work. Will end up in an argument with loved ones, will be told to leave. Now I have to find a place to sleep for the night and wake up in a strange place feeling like crap. Now, sick and tired from the drink I have to try and figure out a way to apologize for my actions. Feeling that guilt, take note that this is how it always happens…

By going through the whole familiar process in your head before you give in to the urge, you may find yourself more capable of stepping back and being mindful of how poor the choice to use will be. Urges happen to all of us, but they come and go like waves. Use this tool to get through the next one and you’ll be grateful you chose to abstain.

Relapse? Be Strong - Move on!

One of the most common sources of anxiety, primarily in the first year of recovery can be the fear of a relapse. Unfortunately, people who have never suffered from addiction have a difficult time understanding or empathizing with what one is going through, especially in that first crucial year. Between the expectations of our loved ones and even the design of some treatment programs we can come to consider relapse in itself a complete failure. As though all our progress is somehow forfeit due to a slip along the path to sobriety.

It’s important to understand that almost everyone stumbles along this path at times and relapse is something experienced by the vast majority of people in recovery. Be it small or large, it’s something that can and often does happen.. It is NOT a failure.. It is no reason to feel guilty or ashamed. It is however, something which we can learn from. We need to step back and recognize it for what it is. Be mindful of the experience, take note and observe the circumstances that lead to the relapse itself and use what you’ve learned to become stronger should you find yourself facing similar challenges again.

Do not beat yourself up over it. You’ve abstained for 68 hypothetical days but on an unfortunate night found yourself slipping to your old routine and reaching for that bottle? Do not fret, you have NOT lost those 68 days. They are still with you, they are an accomplishment to be proud of and all part of the journey you’ve started. It's just as important for loved ones to educate themselves to better understand the trials you face and how they can be there for you. In doing so they can better understand that should you relapse, the world does not end.. It is not about them, it's about you. So get up, brush yourself off and move forward should you fall. Next time you will be better equipped to deal with whatever it was that tripped you along the way..

“Why do we fall Master Wayne? So we can learn to pick ourselves up!” – Alfred Pennyworth

Help for Alcoholics and Drug Addicts in Florida

Floridians: What Is This Drug Addiction, What is Alcoholism?

First of all, Alcoholism is so common in Florida because alcohol is just so darn easy to obtain. Start out drinking at an early age, and it's highly likely you'll get into other drugs, and quite possibly become an Addict. Has this already happened to you? Do you find yourself sobbing, "I NEED HELP." or asking, "Why can't I stop drinking / using?" 

Almost every store in Florida which sells food - also sells booze. No wonder so many people in the state are picked up for DUI, public disturbance, reckless endangerment, the list goes on...

photo credit: Globefill Inc.

According to the authors at WebMD.com, et al. "Drug addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences to the drug addict and those around them."

Drug addiction is classified as a brain disease because drug and alcohol abuse leads to changes in the structure and functionality of the brain. Although it is true for most people the initial decision to take drugs is completely voluntary, over time the changes in the brain caused by drug use and abuse can affect a person's self-control and ability to make good life decisions, and at the same time it can create an intense impulse to keep taking drugs.

It is because of all the changes in the brain that it is so challenging for one who is addicted to quit abusing drugs. Fortunately, there are treatments which can and will help people to counter addiction's powerful disruptive effects and regain lost control. Research shows that combining addiction treatment medications, when it is possible, with types of behavioral therapy commences the most empowering methods to ensure treatment and recovery success for most patients.

Treatment approaches which are tailored specifically to each patient's drug abuse usage patterns and any concurrent medical, psychiatric, and social problems can lead to sustained recovery and a life without alcohol and/or drugs. As with other chronic diseases, such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease, addiction can be managed quite effectively.Yet, it is quite common for an addict to relapse and begin using and abusing alcohol and drugs again. Relapse does not mean failure; but, it indicates that the treatment should be revisited and adjusted, or that different treatment will be needed to help the person back on the road to recovery. 

Understanding the Alcoholic or Addict isn't Simple

A common human conviction is that drug abusers ought to just have the capacity to quit taking medications at any given time that they are ready to change their own conduct and control the drive to drink or use drugs.

Numerous individuals don't comprehend why those with "addictive personalities" wind up dependent on drugs or how medications change the mind to prompt compulsive drug abuse. They wrongfully view medication misuse and habit as a social issue only, and may portray the individuals who take drugs as weak of willpower.

What the vast majority don't understand is the unpredictability of drug addiction habits (or alcoholism / alcohol addiction) - how it is an illness which affects the brain - and as a result of that, halting drug misuse is not just a question of resolution.

Through investigative scientific advances, we know significantly more now about how medications function in the brain, and we likewise realize that drug addiction can be effectively treated to help people stop abusing drugs and resume meaningful and productive lives. Transformations by the Gulf is in Florida, ready to help.

What Happens to Men vs. Women Who are Intoxicated
from Alcohol or Drugs?

Men often become excessively boisterous or violent under the influence of too much alcohol or drugs. The surge of dopamine (the brains happy, carefree 'drug') creates a feeling of invincibility and freedom that sober living just can't offer.

Women, on the contrary, often will become overly emotional and even sad before hitting the point of sloppy-no-return from drinking and using drugs. They too lose all inhibition, gain confidence, and often will let men take advantage of them, which they would not normally do sober.

Drugs & Alcohol and the Brain

 

Drugs are chemicals which creep into the brain's systems of communication and disrupt the way nerve cells originally send, receive and process information. There are at least two ways that drugs are able to do this: by overstimulating the "reward circuit" of the brain - and/or imitating the brain's natural chemical messengers.

Some drugs, such as weed (pot, dope etc...) and heroin (H. Horse, dope...), have a similar structure to chemical messengers, called neurotransmitters, which are naturally produced by the brain. Because of this similarity, these drugs are able to "trick" the brain's receptors and activate nerve cells to send altered messages.

Other drugs, such as cocaine (coke, crack, etc) or methamphetamine (meth, crank, speed, crystal meth, etc...), can cause the nerve cells to release abnormally large amounts of natural neurotransmitters, or prevent the normal synthesis and cycle of these brain chemicals, which is needed to shut off the signal between the neurons. This disruption produces a severely amplified message which disrupts normal brain patterns.
 

Nearly all drugs, directly or indirectly, target the reward center by overloading the brain with dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter present in regions of the brain that control movement, emotion, motivation, and pleasure perception. The over-stimulation of this system, which normally responds to natural behaviors which are linked to survival (eating, family time, etc), produces euphoric effects in response to the drugs. This reaction sets in motion a pattern that "teaches" people to repeat the drug abuse behavior. As a person continues the abuse of drugs, the brain adapts to the dopamine surges by producing less dopamine or reducing dopamine receptors. The user must therefore keep abusing drugs to bring his or her dopamine function back to ''normal'' or use more drugs to achieve a dopamine high.

Long-term drug and alcohol abuse causes changes in other brain chemical systems and circuits, as well. Brain imaging studies of drug-addicted individuals show changes in areas of the brain that are critical to judgment, decision-making, learning and memory, and behavior control. Together, these changes can drive an abuser to seek out and take drugs compulsively -- to become addicted to drugs.

Some People Become Addicted
to Alcohol and Drugs While Others Do Not

No one factor will predict whether or not a person will become addicted to alcohol or drugs. Addiction risk factors are influenced by a person's biological makeup, environment and stage of development. The more risk factors an individual has, the greater the chance that taking drugs can lead to addiction. For example:

• Biology. Genes that people are born with - in combination with environmental influences -- account for about half of their addiction vulnerability. Additionally, gender, ethnicity, and the presence of other mental disorders may influence risk for drug abuse and addiction.
• Environment. Environment includes many different influences - from family and friends to socioeconomic status and quality of life, in general. Factors such as peer pressure, physical and sexual abuse, stress, and parental involvement can greatly influence the course of drug abuse and addiction in a person's life.
• Development. Environmental factors interact with critical developmental stages in a person's life to affect addiction vulnerability, and adolescents experience a double challenge. Although taking drugs at any age can lead to addiction, the earlier that drug use begins, the more likely it is to progress to more serious abuse. And because adolescents' brains are still developing in the areas that govern decision making, judgment, and self-control, they are especially prone to risk-taking behaviors, including trying drugs.

Prevention Is the Most Successful Treatment of All

Alcoholism and drug addiction and dependence are preventable illnesses. Research has demonstrated that programs which include the family, schools, groups, and media are powerful in decreasing drug and alcohol abuse. Although it's known that social variables influence drug abuse and alcohol misuse patterns, when adolescents see drug addiction as unsafe, they tend to steer clear of drugs and alcohol. It is fundamental to help our youth and the overall population to understand the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse and for parents, teachers, and doctors to continue sending the message that drug abuse can be prevented if an individual never misuses drugs.