Describing addiction Flashcards
What is Addiction?
Addiction can be defined as habit patterns, with the compulsion to use a substance or engage in behaviour for immediate gratification (short term reward), despite its harmful consequences.
Addiction is characterised by an inability to stop using a substance or engaging in behaviour, such that it affects social and occupational functioning.
Attempts to change an addictive behaviour (via treatment or self-initiation) are typically marked with high relapse rates.
What is physical dependency
Physical dependence can occur with the long-term use of many drugs, for example, heroin and nicotine, but also prescription drugs, such as sedatives and anti-anxiety drugs such as benzodiazepines.
Physical Dependence on a drug often follows heavy daily use over several weeks or longer.
Individuals need to take the drug in order to feel ‘normal’.
Physical dependence can be demonstrated by:
The presence of unpleasant physical symptoms - withdrawal syndrome - if the person suddenly abstains from the drug
It is also often accompanied by increased tolerance to the drug, in that the user requires increased doses to obtain the desired effect.
what is psychological dependency
Psychological Dependence: occurs when the addictive behaviour becomes a central part of an individual’s thoughts, emotions and activities, resulting in a strong urge to engage in the behaviour.
A characteristic of psychological dependence is the experience of cravings.
Cravings are an intense desire to repeat the experience associated with a particular drug or activity, which completely consumes their thinking.
They occur if an individual attempts to abstain / cut down their usage.
If the cravings are not met, the person experiences heightened anxiety.
They may feel unable to cope without a particular substance/activity.
Psychological dependence may also arise for
behavioural addictions i.e. gamblers who are motivated by the thrill of winning money. They may experience cravings to gamble that are every bit as strong as those experienced by drug addicts.
what is tolerance
Tolerance: Increased tolerance means an individual no longer responds to the drug in the same way, with the result that larger and larger doses are needed in order to feel the same effects as before.
There are 3 ways in which tolerance can occur:
Metabolic Tolerance: enzymes responsible for metabolising the drug do this more efficiently over time. This results in reduced concentrations in the blood and at the sites of drug action, making the effect weaker.
Prolonged drug use leads to changes in receptor density, reducing the response to the normal dose of the drug.
Learned Tolerance: a user will experience reduced drug effects because they have learned to function normally when under the influence of the drug.
As the effect of the drug wears off, an individual may experience withdrawal symptoms, which are opposite to those feelings and symptoms induced by the drug, e.g.:
- Increased anxiety - Shakiness or trembling
- Insomnia
- Irritability
- Loss of appetite
- Headaches
Withdrawal symptoms are different depending on the drug
but all have a negative impact on the individual, leading them to take the drug again to relieve these symptoms.
Acute Withdrawal:
Begins within hours of drug cessation and gradually resolves after a few weeks.
During this stage, the addict experiences intense and persistent physical cravings as the body has yet to adjust to the loss of the drug it had become used to for so long.
Post-Acute Withdrawal:
Can last for months or even years after the person has stopped taking the drug.
It is characterised by emotional and psychological turmoil as addicts experience alternating periods of dysfunction and near-normality as the brain slowly re-organises and re-balances itself.
Evaluation of the components of addiction
Tolerance and withdrawal are hard to research as the level of control in studies is poor. This is in part due to the reliability of the data as much requires self-report measures. There are also many variables which cannot be controlled for.
Tolerance and withdrawal are affected by many individual differences such as the gender of the individual, their drug use behaviours, their age and their body weight. This makes it a difficult area to establish clear patterns.
