Psychology Core Concepts Of Addiction By Sean Mullins
1282 Words6 Pages
“Addiction”
By: Sean Mullins
“An addiction is a condition in which a person continues to use a drug despite its adverse effects – often despite repeated attempts to discontinue using the drug.” (Psychology Core Concepts) What is addiction, and how can we prevent it from happening to people? To answer this question this paper will address what an addiction is, what you can become addicted to, and how it happens. Also this paper will discuss the effects, both physical and psychological, along with the dependencies that come with an addiction, and finally, treatment is it worth it and will it help?
An addiction is defined as a “compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological…show more content… (National Institute on Drug Abuse) While a psychological dependence is, “a desire to obtain or use a drug, even though there is no physical dependence” (Psychology Core Concepts). According to “Principles of Drug Abuse Treatment for Criminal Justice Populations - A Research-Based Guide” by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “drug addiction is a brain disease that affects behavior”. Also, “Drug addiction has well-recognized cognitive, behavioral, and physiological characteristics that contribute to continued use of drugs despite the harmful consequences”. With that being said, chronic drug addiction and abuse “alters the brain’s anatomy and chemistry and that these changes can last for months or years after the individual has stopped using drugs”.…show more content… “Treatment is also much less costly than its alternatives, like incarcerating addicts.” (NIDA 2012) For example, “the average cost for one full year of methadone maintenance treatment is approximately $4,700 per patient” (NIDA 2012), while “one full year of imprisonment costs approximately $24,000 per person” (NIDA 2012). Another reason why treatment is such a crucial response to addiction is that if stopped early enough, it could help to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, along with other infectious diseases. (NIDA) The impact that treatment can make is that it discourages the risky behavior, along with usage rates, therefore stopping the spread of used needles. Drug addiction has a 40-60 percent relapse rate (NIDA), which is a large factor in treatment, because with statistics like these, many state run facilities are not getting the funds they need to help as many as