Causes and Treatments of Addiction

Causes and Treatments of Addiction

Introduction

Addiction is a condition defined by an individual's intense need to consume a particular substance, usually an illicit drug or alcohol. Typically regarded as a disease or medical condition, addiction is seen by many as a form of disability. Addiction is generally diagnosed based on the following criteria: tolerance, withdrawal, and craving. Tolerance refers to the body's ability to metabolize, or tolerate, a certain quantity of a substance prior to reaching the point of intoxication. Withdrawal refers to the agitated behavior, ranging from mild irritability to severe physical illness that many habitual substance users display when they cannot consume their desired substances (Hamid, 2002). Finally, craving refers to a user's physical, and frequently psychological, need to consume a substance in order to offset withdrawal symptoms. People are believed to be addicts when they habitually consume drugs or alcohol, often to the point of intoxication, and when they display signs of withdrawal and craving in the absence of those substances. Recently some scholarship has examined how many behaviors like gambling, sex, and exercise can also be addictive based on these criteria.

Thesis Statement

Drug Addiction is a relatively recent construct in a social phenomenon. That is, regardless of the use of psychoactive drugs for many years, drugs only became a social trouble when the working of a member of a specific group or the actions of the group itself became weakened through another's drug-taking activities. Therefore, drug addiction evolved through the impact and interconnectedness which anyone's behavior has on another. Drug addiction is generally considered the use of psychoactive or performance-enhancing drugs for nonmedical or therapeutic purposes.

Discussion

Drug addiction is a state denoted by an irresistible need to keep on taking a drug to which one has become accustomed due to recurring utilization as it generates a specific outcome, typically a change in attitude, mental activity, or outlook. Addiction generally goes along with an urge to acquire the drug, a inclination to boost the quantity, a physical or psychological reliance, and damaging results for the society and individual. General addictive drugs are cocaine, barbiturates, morphine, and crack and other opioids, particularly heroin, which has a little greater euphorigenic properties than other opium offshoots (Rodin, 2009).

Drug addiction may occur with both legal (e.g., alcohol, cigarettes, prescription, and over-the-counter [OTC] medication) and illegal (e.g., cocaine, heroin, marijuana) substances. Furthermore, drugs are not only a problem for inner-city residents, the poor, or members of a minority group, the poor are disproportionately affected. However, extensive research considering all sociological and environmental factors show that addiction to different drugs is not a disease but a choice made by the person. Historically, we have failed dramatically in our responses to the alcohol/drug problem in the United States. From the 1930s to the 1960s, public and private responses to alcohol/drug abuse caused tremendous damage, which we are still trying to overcome. However, Researchers, authors, doctors, physicians, specialists, even entire organizations have dedicated their time, scope and cost to the cause of completing eliminating the ...