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Addiction is classified as a chronic brain disorder by the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM). [5] There are several reasons why people develop an addiction. A predisposition to the addictive qualities of substances may be inherited by some people, making it a genetic circumstance. Another cause for addictions could be the environment.
Chemistry, not moral failing, accounts for the brain’s unwinding. In the laboratories that study drug addiction, researchers have found that the brain becomes conditioned by the repeated dopamine rush caused by heroin. “The brain is not designed to handle it,” said Dr. Ruben Baler, a scientist with the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
According to the DSM, the clinical criteria for "drug dependence" (or what we refer to as addiction), include compulsive drug use despite harmful consequences, inability to stop using a drug, failure to meet work, social, or family obligations, and sometimes (depending on the drug), tolerance and withdrawal.
Social skills are significantly impaired in people with alcoholism due to the neurotoxic effects of alcohol on the brain, especially the prefrontal cortex area of the brain. [57] It has been suggested that social skills training adjunctive to inpatient treatment of alcohol dependence is probably efficacious, [58] including managing the social ...
The relationship between negative affect and substance use disorders has been the most widely studied model of addiction. It proposes that individuals who experience the greatest levels of negative affect are at the greatest risk of using substances or behaviours as a coping (psychology) mechanism.
Most treatments focus on helping people discontinue their alcohol intake, followed up with life training and/or social support to help them resist a return to alcohol use. Since alcoholism involves multiple factors which encourage a person to continue drinking, they must all be addressed to successfully prevent a relapse.
A way to destigmatize substance use disorders and shift public perception from viewing them as a moral failing to understanding them as a chronic medical condition which requires treatment. Provide those who are struggling with addiction assurance and encouragement of healing, and let them know that they are not alone in their struggle.
The life-process model of addiction is the view that addiction is not a disease but rather a habitual response and a source of gratification and security that can be understood only in the context of social relationships and experiences. This model of addiction is in opposition to the disease model of addiction.