Your brain and your behavior are affected by addiction! It’s impossible to resist the impulse to use drugs when you’re hooked on them, no matter the consequences! 

You will probably escape some of the more severe effects of drug addiction if you receive treatment early on. The tip of the iceberg is heroin, cocaine, or any other illegal drug addiction. Drugs like benzodiazepines and anti-anxiety medicines can also lead to addiction.

This article tackles how drug addiction affects the brain.

How Drug Addiction Develops in the Brain

Smoking or snorting a narcotic for the first time profoundly affects your brain. On the other hand, full-blown addiction doesn’t happen in a matter of days. For the most part, it takes place across a three-step sequence.

Desire 

Dopamine is released into the brain’s reward area whenever you enjoy a tasty meal, a pleasant piece of music, or time spent with friends. Often referred to as a “feel-good” molecule, dopamine is known for its ability to elicit positive feelings in the body. Repetition is an essential part of learning for our health and well-being.

Dopamine is released in far more significant quantities when people take drugs than when they engage in routine activities. Drugs give you a euphoric high because your brain’s reward center is overflowing with dopamine. Because of this, you start craving it again and again after the high wears off.

 Tolerance

To compensate for the high levels of dopamine, your brain will gradually eliminate some of its dopamine receptors, resulting in a change in the structure of your brain as a result. As your dopamine receptors grow less sensitive, you’ll need to take more significant doses of the same substance to get the same high. Essentially, this is how tolerance to drugs grows.

Develop a Routine

Long-term drug dependence begins with compulsive behavior. The brain develops new connections that make drug users an automatic response. Drugs are no longer a source of enjoyment; they are merely consumed as a coping mechanism. Once in a time, what was once an innate urge has been transformed into a learned behavior.

Changes in your brain’s chemicals and circuits impair your judgment, memory, and ability to make sound decisions. As a result, you may begin experimenting with more dangerous drugs and increasing the dosage, which will only serve to feed your addiction further.

The Effects of Drug Addiction on Your Brain

It is through receptor sites that a chemical enters the brain. Natural substances in the body involved in causing pleasure are thought to operate similarly on the brain when drugs enter these receptors. There will be a significant reduction in brain chemical production due to receiving these substances from an external source. 

To maintain the initial pleasurable effects, the individual taking the drug must gradually increase the dosage as their brain becomes accustomed to its presence. However, most addicts indicate that they never regained the euphoria or well-being they had at the beginning of their addiction. The loop of ever-increasing drug use to achieve ever-decreasing experiences begins here.

When a person rapidly stops taking a drug, they will likely experience withdrawal symptoms. Some frequent symptoms include anxiety, anger, chills and hot flashes, nausea, cramping, and even death, depending on the substance used and the addiction’s length. When a person goes through withdrawal, their body practically “begs” them for more of the addictive medication. Understandably, quitting the drug is a challenge.

Addiction is characterized by this inability to stop using the drug. A person who has become addicted to a substance may understand the harmful implications of their behavior. Still, even after the physical symptoms of withdrawal have worn off, they may be unable to stop using the drug. Due to a procedure taught in the users’ pre-existing answers: Over a lengthy period of abuse, poor judgment and self-destructive decision-making intensify, and these triggered behaviors become an automatic response system. 

With addiction, the brain becomes extremely sensitive to even the minor changes in stimuli, making it impossible for the addict to cope with even the most mundane of pressures.

Who is Prone to Addiction?

Drugs have various effects on different people. After the first time, some people love the sensation and want more. People who don’t like it stop trying.

Some use drugs and never develop an addiction. However, anyone and any age can be affected. Addiction can be exacerbated by factors such as:

Ancestry of the family

More than half of your chances are determined by your DNA. You’re more likely to have a problem with alcohol or drugs if your parents or siblings have the same issue. Addiction is a problem for both sexes.

Early use of drugs

Drug usage can alter the development of a child’s brain. As a result, it’s possible that using drugs when you’re younger increases your risk of being addicted later in life.

Mental Disorders

Sad people who have difficulty concentrating or worry excessively have a higher risk of being addicted to drugs or alcohol. You may turn to medicines to alleviate your pain. Addiction is more prone to develop if you have a history of trauma.

Relationship issues

The likelihood of developing an addiction may be increased if you had a difficult childhood and do not have good relationships with your parents or older brothers and sisters.

Signs of a Drug Addiction

One or more of the following warning indicators may be present in your body:

• A desire to use the substance regularly (e.g., multiple times per day)
• Overdosing on drugs for a more extended period than you anticipated
• Drug use, even if it causes problems at work or causes you to lash out at loved ones.
• Increasing the amount of time spent alone.
• A lack of self-care and concern for one’s appearance
• Being unwell when you try to give up smoking

If you or anyone you know is struggling with drug addiction, reach out to us to see how our IOP program in Atlanta can help.