Contents:
- Medical Video: The Psychology of Addiction
- Addiction is different from habits
- What causes addiction?
- What is the reason for someone becoming a drug addict?
- Environmental influences
- Curiosity
- Addiction because of accident
- Addicted by choice
- We must help drug addicts
Medical Video: The Psychology of Addiction
Based on the latest data from the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), the number of drug addicts in Indonesia currently reaches approximately six million people. With so many people using drugs, you might wonder "Why did they do it?". Everyone can actually be addicted to something. I don `t know food addiction, work, playing video games, alcohol, sex, shopping, even drugs.
Before knowing the reasons that might make someone become a drug addict, you should first understand how addiction can occur.
Addiction is different from habits
Addiction is a condition that makes someone lose control of what he does, uses or consumes for something they make opium. This loss of control can be caused by various things and occurs for a long time.
Addiction is different from habits that are repeated. When you are accustomed to doing something, for example taking a bath twice a day, you can stop it at any time according to the current situation and condition, also following personal desires both consciously and unconsciously - feeling lazy, cold, trapped in other activities, and so on.
But not with addiction. Addiction makes you really lose self control so that it is difficult and / or unable to stop the behavior, regardless of all the efforts made to stop it. This loss of control makes an addict tend to do various ways to be able to complete the desire for opium, not caring about the consequences and risks.
Addiction that a person has over time can cause adverse effects on his health, especially psychological health. It is not impossible addiction causes changes in personality, characteristics, behavior, habits, even brain function.
What causes addiction?
Addiction is a complicated process. But, one thing that can cause addiction is a disruption in the production of the hormone dopamine. Dopamine is a happy hormone that is released by the brain in large amounts when you find or experience something that makes you happy and satisfied, whether it's good food, sex, winning gambling, and drugs that cause dependency effects such as alcohol and cigarettes.
If the level of dopamine produced by the brain is still within normal limits, it will not cause addiction. But when you experience addiction, the object that makes you addicted stimulates the brain to produce excessive dopamine.
Narcotics manipulate the work of the hypothalamus, the part of the brain responsible for regulating the emotions and mood of the owner's body. Narcotics makes users feel very happy, excited, confident, up to 'high'. This is a result of the amount of dopamine released by the brain beyond tolerance. This happy effect will automatically make the body crave, so it requires repeated use of drugs and in higher doses to satisfy the need for extreme happiness. Prolonged drug and substance abuse will damage the brain's motivation and reward receptor circuits and systems, causing addiction.
What is the reason for someone becoming a drug addict?
There are certain factors that cause someone is more susceptible to addiction, for example genetic, physical and psychological trauma, history of mental disorders, to impulsive nature. In addition, there are various other things that can influence a person's decision to start using drugs, and at the end of the experience are addicted. Here's the review.
Environmental influences
The environment also plays an important role in the emergence of one's addiction. One of the most common reasons why people are tempted to try to use drugs from outside influences, either directly or indirectly - especially people they often meet or idolize, including parents, friend, brother, to even celebrities. We live in an era where drug use is openly discussed and even promoted by important people. This then influences curiosity and triggers the desire to experiment.
Curiosity
Curiosity is one of human's natural instincts. Many teenagers become drug addicts because they are initiated by experiments with drugs and alcohol on the basis of their curiosity. Many teenagers, even though they know that drugs are bad, they do not believe this will happen to him, so they are determined to try. There are also those who use drugs to get recognition of their social status, also to feel the same experience with their friends.
Addiction because of accident
Some painkillers are very easy to abuse thanks to the effect of "anesthetizing", even in unintentional cases. One of them is opioid medicine. Initially opiates (for example, oxycodone, percocet, vicodin, or fentanyl) prescribed by doctors to deal with extraordinary pain. Opium drugs are very effective in dealing with unbearable pain, for example during cancer therapy or post-surgical treatment.
There are also those who use ecstasy to relieve symptoms of excessive anxiety in certain social situations. But over time, the body can develop tolerance to the effects of this drug, so some people tend to increase the dose without the doctor's permission. This is what causes them to gradually inadvertently depend on the drug.
Addicted by choice
Many of us intentionally enjoy substances that can be addictive, such as alcohol or nicotine from cigarettes. In most people, the hobby of drinking alcohol does not cause addiction because they succeed in balancing or controlling themselves and looking for other alternative alternatives, such as spending time with family or doing other hobbies.
Some people decide to abuse prescription drugs for people with ADHD, such as Adderall, to help them concentrate more on learning or losing weight.
Someone who is susceptible to addiction tends to feel the most intense sensation of dopamine when they try things that trigger it for the first time. Therefore, it may be difficult for them to maintain that balance at other times and choose to satisfy their desires by returning to using the opium.
We must help drug addicts
Many of us have to reflect on addiction problems. We usually associate addiction with weak faith and self-control. However, the real reason behind their decision to use drugs is far more complex than just moral damage.
The lack of understanding of what is a risk factor and why someone becomes a drug addict makes many people blinded by prejudice. Someone who falls in the opium trap is powerless to control his desires and behavior. That is why people who are trying to escape from addiction need to get support and affection, not be ostracized or judged.
