Addiction – for Better or Worse
Addiction is when there is something that you cannot do without. Addiction can be positive and vital. For example, everybody is addicted to water, food and sleep. Some people experience a positive addicted to music, to reading good books or to going to the cinema. They would not do without it, while other people find these things completely unnecessary.
Addiction can be damaging too. Some stimulants (tobacco, alcohol and drugs) damage brain cells and the body and then the body needs to repair the cells.
It´s very easy to determine whether you are addictied to something or not – for better or worse. You just ask yourself the question: Can I do without this? If the answer is no, you are addicted. Is that good or bad? This depends on whether you are addicted to something that is good for or damaging your body and brain.
Your brain can be damaged by stimulants without you even noticing it. It gets harder to learn and remember, and you experience more frequent mood changes. The brain’s Reward Factory produces ‘Dopamine’, which makes you excited. Drugs can increase the consumption of dopamine to such an extend that your dopamine storage is completely emptied and you become severely depressed.
If you experience that stimulants make you feel cool then you really need to take care! This is a sign that your brain is particularly sensitive and that the stimulant is already causing changes in your brain.
To start smoking is the fastest way to grow old. With a photograph of yourself and a specific computer programme you can take a look in to the future and see what you will look like. Try it here
This is how a teenage girl will look in the future as a non-smoker (left side of the picture) – or as a smoker (right side of the picture)
Self-medication
Research indicates that some people get addicted because the drug that they use works like a medication.
- GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is a transmitter of the brain. Lack of GABA leads to chronic anxiety, anxiety and nervousness. Alcohol increases the amount of GABA in the brain and relieves the unpleasant feelings.
- Cocaine can be a chemical antidote to depression. Half of the patients who were treated in a cocaine detoxification clinic were found to have a severe depression, which should have been treated – so they could have avoided becoming cocaine addicts.
- Heroine can alleviate chronic anger. Some addicts have reported that with heroine they felt for the first time psychologically normal and relaxed. It is obviously a pact with the Devil: A short-lived good feeling in return for a nonstop meltdown of one’s life.