Alcohol Addiction in Tampa Florida

What you should know about drug addiction
Substance use disorder or drug addiction refers to dependence on illegal or legal substances including medication. Basically, addiction exerts a powerful and chronic influence on the brain that is characterized by 3 main things: loss of control over its use, craving for the object of addiction and continuing to use even when faced with negative consequences.
Previously, researchers believed that addicts had character flaws or were weak-willed which made it possible for addiction to flourish. They thought that treating addiction was as simple as focusing on the willpower of a person or punishing the person for negative behavior.
Thankfully, perception towards addiction has changed as it is now seen as a disorder that affects the brain and the way it operates rather than a character flaw. Here it is important to emphasize that addiction is a condition that afflicts the brain just as cancer afflicts the brain or lungs.
Statistics from the National Council of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) indicates that about 18 million people or the equivalent of 1 in every 12 adults in the US have substance dependence problems. In addition, about 48 million people aged 12 years and above are using medical drugs for non-medical reasons.
Florida
Treatment Center in Florida
Addiction Recovery in Florida
Jacksonville
Orlando
Miami
Tampa
How addictive substances enslave the brain
The term “addiction” is derived from the Latin word “bound to” or “enslaved by.” In simple terms, your brain is enslaved or hijacked by the substances and held in an iron grip.
Drugs enslave the brain by tapping into its communication system and interrupting the way neurons transmit information. Substances such as heroin and marijuana activate neurons because their chemical structure mimics the structure of a natural neurotransmitter.
This similarity tricks receptors and enable such substances to hitch a ride and activate the neurons.
Though these drugs imitate the brain’s natural chemical, they do not activate the neurons in a similar manner to natural neurotransmitters. This leads to abnormal messages being transmitted to and fro through the network.
Substances such as cocaine or amphetamines trick neurons to release abnormal amounts of natural neurotransmitters. Alternatively, they may prevent the regular recycling of natural neurotransmitters. This disruption produces amplified messages which interfere with normal communication channels.
Normally, addictive substances target the brain’s reward system either directly or indirectly. They achieve this by flooding the system with dopamine. Dopamine is a natural neurotransmitter in the brain that regulates motivation, emotion and feelings of pleasure.
When activated at normal levels, the neurotransmitter rewards our natural behaviors. Excessive stimulation of the reward center due to ingestion of addictive substances results in feelings of euphoria. These effects strongly reinforce the behavior of drug use which teaches the user to repeat the action over and over in order to experience euphoria commonly known as feeling high by addicts. The search for euphoria is part of what makes drug addiction so hard to break.
Why are addictive substances more pleasurable than natural rewards?
Naturally, addictive drugs can release 2-10 times the amount of dopamine compared to natural rewards such as eating. In some instances, dopamine is released almost immediately such as when drugs are injected or smoked. In addition, the effects of dopamine released due to ingestion of substances can last longer unlike those produced by natural rewards.
The effects of the addictive substances on the brain’s pleasure system overshadow those produced by natural rewards. The effect of such a strong reward motivates the addict to use drugs more often. This is the reason why scientists often say that substance abuse is an activity people learn to engage in very effectively.
Over time as the person continues ingesting substances and overwhelming the brain’s receptors, the brain adjusts to the overwhelming volumes of dopamine by producing less of the neurotransmitter or by reducing the number of receptors that receive signals. This is similar to turning down your radio speakers when the volumes get too loud. As a result, the effects of dopamine on the reward system in the brain of a drug addict become very low and the ability to experience pleasure is reduced.
This explains why a person who abuse substances feels depressed, flat and lifeless when they have not engaged in their addictive behavior. To bring the dopamine level back up to normal, the person must keep taking drugs consistently which makes drug addiction a vicious cycle. In addition, the person must keep increasing the amount of addictive substance to produce the same dopamine high-a condition known as tolerance.
Substance use disorder or drug addiction refers to dependence on illegal or legal substances including medication. Basically, addiction exerts a powerful and chronic influence on the brain that is characterized by 3 main things: loss of control over its use, craving for the object of addiction and continuing to use even when faced with negative consequences.
Previously, researchers believed that addicts had character flaws or were weak-willed which made it possible for addiction to flourish. They thought that treating addiction was as simple as focusing on the willpower of a person or punishing the person for negative behavior.
Thankfully, perception towards addiction has changed as it is now seen as a disorder that affects the brain and the way it operates rather than a character flaw. Here it is important to emphasize that addiction is a condition that afflicts the brain just as cancer afflicts the brain or lungs.
Statistics from the National Council of Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD) indicates that about 18 million people or the equivalent of 1 in every 12 adults in the US have substance dependence problems. In addition, about 48 million people aged 12 years and above are using medical drugs for non-medical reasons.
Florida
Treatment Center in Florida
Addiction Recovery in Florida
Jacksonville
Orlando
Miami
Tampa
How addictive substances enslave the brain
The term “addiction” is derived from the Latin word “bound to” or “enslaved by.” In simple terms, your brain is enslaved or hijacked by the substances and held in an iron grip.
Drugs enslave the brain by tapping into its communication system and interrupting the way neurons transmit information. Substances such as heroin and marijuana activate neurons because their chemical structure mimics the structure of a natural neurotransmitter.
This similarity tricks receptors and enable such substances to hitch a ride and activate the neurons.
Though these drugs imitate the brain’s natural chemical, they do not activate the neurons in a similar manner to natural neurotransmitters. This leads to abnormal messages being transmitted to and fro through the network.
Substances such as cocaine or amphetamines trick neurons to release abnormal amounts of natural neurotransmitters. Alternatively, they may prevent the regular recycling of natural neurotransmitters. This disruption produces amplified messages which interfere with normal communication channels.
Normally, addictive substances target the brain’s reward system either directly or indirectly. They achieve this by flooding the system with dopamine. Dopamine is a natural neurotransmitter in the brain that regulates motivation, emotion and feelings of pleasure.
When activated at normal levels, the neurotransmitter rewards our natural behaviors. Excessive stimulation of the reward center due to ingestion of addictive substances results in feelings of euphoria. These effects strongly reinforce the behavior of drug use which teaches the user to repeat the action over and over in order to experience euphoria commonly known as feeling high by addicts. The search for euphoria is part of what makes drug addiction so hard to break.
Why are addictive substances more pleasurable than natural rewards?
Naturally, addictive drugs can release 2-10 times the amount of dopamine compared to natural rewards such as eating. In some instances, dopamine is released almost immediately such as when drugs are injected or smoked. In addition, the effects of dopamine released due to ingestion of substances can last longer unlike those produced by natural rewards.
The effects of the addictive substances on the brain’s pleasure system overshadow those produced by natural rewards. The effect of such a strong reward motivates the addict to use drugs more often. This is the reason why scientists often say that substance abuse is an activity people learn to engage in very effectively.
Over time as the person continues ingesting substances and overwhelming the brain’s receptors, the brain adjusts to the overwhelming volumes of dopamine by producing less of the neurotransmitter or by reducing the number of receptors that receive signals. This is similar to turning down your radio speakers when the volumes get too loud. As a result, the effects of dopamine on the reward system in the brain of a drug addict become very low and the ability to experience pleasure is reduced.
This explains why a person who abuse substances feels depressed, flat and lifeless when they have not engaged in their addictive behavior. To bring the dopamine level back up to normal, the person must keep taking drugs consistently which makes drug addiction a vicious cycle. In addition, the person must keep increasing the amount of addictive substance to produce the same dopamine high-a condition known as tolerance.