Addictions

A common misconception is that addictions are a moral choice and that with willpower the behaviour can be stopped. Contemporary research has shown that addiction changes the chemistry of the brain, hijacking the pleasure/reward circuits so that we crave more.

Addictive behaviours flood the brain with dopamine (a chemical messenger that interprets how we feel pleasure). The brain then cannot cope with the large amounts of dopamine it receives. It responds by producing less dopamine, which means that to receive the same amount of pleasure, we need to do the addictive behaviour more often.

Eventually, the craving is no more than a compulsion as the pleasure associated with a particular drug or behaviour diminishes. However, the memory of the desired effect and the desire to recreate it stays strong. The environmental cues associated with the behaviour are stored in the brain and readily invoke an intense craving when triggered.

Triggers are emotional responses to things associated with addictions. They can either be an event, person, place or something as innocuous as the clink of ice cubes in a glass, but they can set off biochemical changes in the brain that strongly influence addictive behaviour.

There is no simple explanation for what causes an individual to have addictions, and several factors may contribute to the development of a dependency—whether they are physical or mental. However, some people have a greater likelihood of developing an addiction than others. Genetics plays an important role, as do a complex combination of social, psychological, biological and spiritual factors, including:

• Environment – Peer pressure or exposure to normalising behaviour among others. For example, those who grow up around drugs and alcohol are more likely to become users
• Mental Health – Individuals coping with anxiety, depression and other mood disorders are more likely to adopt unhealthy coping mechanisms as a means of self-medication
• How a substance is Consumed – Injecting drugs produces a greater dopamine rush, so a user is more likely to become dependent on it
• Substance Potency – Some drugs are more addictive than others