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Understanding the Neurochemistry of Addiction
Unfortunately many individuals in today's society have addictions of one sort or another. Counselors and researchers have spent many years exploring the ins and outs of addiction in an attempt to understand not only how to help people, but also how to prevent a relapse. One factor that has been found to aid in preventing a relapse has to do with understanding the neurochemistry of addiction.
After continually pushing the boundaries of drug/ alcohol abuse it may begin to interfere with, and sometimes completely replace, normal neurotransmitter functioning. This is when voluntary drug use transforms into a drug addiction, when voluntary choice turns into compulsive behavior. Following extended abuse the neurotransmitters lose their ability to function as they should, explaining why an addict may have such uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms. When the drugs/ alcohol are gone, the neurotransmitters do a poor job of returning to their original role. The resulting drug compulsion continually pulls the addict back into a cycle of drug seeking and drug use. The chemistry of addiction can make sobriety an uphill battle, understanding this can certainly impact the way we treat these addictions.
The better we understand the processes behind drug addiction, the better equipped we are to prevent individuals from slipping back into their drug seeking behavior – relapsing. Understanding the lure of drug/ alcohol use, the compulsion, enables us to really help the addicted individual, because we understand better what we're up against. This also helps us to fight addiction and relapse, because it helps us to understand the fact that addiction is a disease, it's involuntary. Knowing the process behind the addiction, the neurochemistry of addiction, allows us crucial information pertinent to the prevention of relapse.
As you can see, understanding the neurochemistry of addiction can be an essential part of preventing relapse. Additional insight about any issue can only help in dealing with any problem or potential problems. This extra knowledge of neurochemistry affords us a chance to better understand what the addicted individual is going through, which in turn allows us a much better chance to assist this individual in their quest for sobriety.
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