Do you remember the good old days when we used to quarrel with our parents to buy a stick of chocolate every time we took a trip to the super market? Some of those mind battles were victories but our other efforts ended in a simple yet authoritative no. As we grew older, the frequency of those conflicts diminished because our ability of judgement improved with maturity. But sometimes we start to pick up other habits that are worse than having a sweet fetish. But is it all about desire and the mind wanting what it wants?
A lot of research has been going into the study of the risk factors of addiction. Risk factors are used to determine the reasons behind addiction becoming a phenomenon in different age groups. These factors include biological and environmental reasons which aggravate addiction and create a roadblock for treatment. There has been some progress which indicates that addiction is a combination of these risk factors.
The widely recognized risk factors include:
- Genes: Genetics play a significant role: having parents with alcoholism, for instance, makes you four times more likely than other children to become alcoholics. More than 60 percent of alcoholics have family histories of alcoholism.
- Psychological problems: People with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, mood disorders, feelings of loneliness and other psychological problems are at greater risk of developing addiction. Often drugs are used to cope with these problems, but then the drugs themselves become a greater problem.
- Early use of drugs: Age is also a factor in deciding when a habit turns into an addiction. The earlier a person is hooked the more likely they are to progress to more serious abuse.
- Social environment: People who live, work or go to school in an environment in which the use of alcohol and other drugs is common – such as a workplace in which people see heavy drinking as an important way to bond with co-workers – are more likely to abuse drugs.
- Childhood trauma: Scientists know that abuse or neglect of children, persistent conflict in the family, sexual abuse and other traumatic childhood experiences can shape a child’s brain chemistry and subsequent vulnerability to addiction.
There are two other theories that deserve mention and seem to be one of the more popular explanations to addiction:
Reward Centre: People get addicted to substance or alcohol because the feeling caused by the substance takes over the reward system of our brain. What this means is that the feeling of pleasure experienced by the brain from other sources of happiness is now replaced or hijacked by the pleasure experienced from the addiction. So the brain is unable to find pleasure from older activities that caused it and now relies on the substance, causing the addiction.
BPS: Probably the best way to explain addiction is with the biopsychosocial phenomenon also known as BPS for short. We know that addiction has a biological component. It causes temporary and permanent changes in the brain and body. We also know there is a psychological component: an inability to cope with distressing emotions. The social component of addiction is related to peer culture, as they influence what you use, how you use it, or how to deal with your emotions. A combination of these influential factors is stated as the modern explanation for addiction.
References:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/what-the-wild-things-are/201312/how-does-addiction-happen
http://www.hbo.com/addiction/understanding_addiction/14_some_people_become_addicted.html