About Addiction…

Substance use disorder is characterized by impairment of volition.

When people engage in behaviours that are essential for survival, such as eating or sex, there is a release of dopamine in the “reward pathway” located in the mid-brain. The dopamine release produces pleasure, or euphoria. The reward pathway is closely connected to the memory center of the brain, which vividly remembers the activities which produced this euphoria, The memory center is connected to the executive function in the prefrontal lobes, which directs the person to repeat these activities.

All addictive drugs act on the reward pathway, often producing a more intense and sustained dopamine release than is produced by non-drug behaviours. Addictive drugs, in essence, “hijack” the reward pathway so that the person with a substance use disorder feels a compulsive need to seek out the drug, sometimes to the detriment of their well being.

With heavy, daily use of a substance, receptors in the brain adapt to resist the drug’s effects, a phenomenon known as tolerance. If highly tolerant people abruptly stop their substance use, the altered receptors can take days or weeks to reset back to normal; during this period people will experience symptoms ofwithdrawal.

Both tolerance and withdrawal can maintain and exacerbate substance use disorders. People with substance use disorders oAen escalate their dose to overcome tolerance and experience euphoria. People will continue to seek out substances in order to relieve or avoid distressing withdrawal symptoms.

Most people use alcohol and other poten0ally addictive drugs without becoming addicted. Genetic, psychiatric and social factors influence an individual’s risk of developing a substance use disorder. Anxiety and depression are risk factors, because substances can provide immediate and profound temporary relief of these symptoms. Social factors include lack of meaningful ac0vi0es and rela0onships, and friends or neighbours who use substances.