Addiction is an incapability to stop consuming a substance and engaging in behavior even it causes physical and psychological harm. According to the research, it is estimated that in India, more than 62.5 million people consume alcohol, over 8.75 million people consume cannabis, 2 million use opiates, and 0.6 million use hypnotics and sedatives. This is called Drug Addiction.
What is Drug Addiction?
Addiction is defined as a fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance or activity. It is considered a brain disorder because it involves a functional change in brain circuits that involved stress, self-control, and reward.
Addiction is similar to other diseases, like heart disease. Disrupt the healthy functioning of an organ in the body, and have serious harmful effects in many cases, some are treatable and preventable. But If left untreated, it can lead to a lifetime and may cause death.
Why Do People Take Drugs?
In general cases, people take drugs for a few reasons:
To feel good. Drugs build intense feelings of pleasure. This is the starting of euphoria which is followed by different effects, and differ the type of drug used. For example, with stimulants like cocaine, the high is followed by increased energy, self-confidence, and feelings of power. Just like heroin is followed by feelings of satisfaction and relaxation.
To feel better. Some people who suffer from stress, social anxiety, and depression start consuming drugs to feel less anxious. Stress plays an important role at the beginning, in continuing of drug consuming and as well as in return to drug use in patients recovering from addiction.
To do better. There are many people who get pressurize to concentrate at work or on sports ability or students in school. Due to this people start consuming drugs like cocaine, prescription stimulants, etc to do better.
Social pressure and Curiosity. In this, teenagers are mainly at risk because social pressure can be very strong. Adolescence is a period when a child enters into the teenage during which the presence of risk factors plays a crucial role, due to this teenagers start consuming such addicted things to tackle social pressure and curiosity.
If consuming drugs make people feel good or better, what’s the problem?
When an individual starts consuming drugs he/she may think about the positive effects as well as they may also think they can take control of their uses. But the drug is a thing that makes quick take over in an individual’s life. With passing time if an individual consumes drugs continuously, his mind makes the simple things complicated, and to feel normal they have to consume drugs. They also see a hard time controlling their need to consume drugs and due to this, can cause many problems for themselves and for their loved ones. Many people may start feeling consuming more and more drugs or take them regularly, even in the starting stage of their consuming. This is a sign of an addiction.
Do People Choose to Keep Using Drugs?
The decision to take drugs is typically voluntary. But with continued use, an individual ability to exert self-control can become seriously dangerous. This impatience in self-control is the hallmark of addiction.
According to research, person with addiction show changes in some parts of the brain that are crucial to judging, learning and memory, behavior control, and decision making. These changes help in explaining the compulsive nature of addiction.
Why Do People Become Addicted to Drugs, While Others Do Not?
As with other disorders and diseases, the means of developing an addiction make difference from person to person, and there is no single factor that determines whether a person will become addicted to drugs or not. In general, the maximum risk factor an individual has is the major chance that consuming drugs will lead to drug addiction and use. on the other hand, there is also a protective factor that reduces a person’s risk. Risk and protective factors may be either biological or environmental.
Risk Factors Include-
• Aggressive behavior in childhood
• Aggressive behavior in childhood
• Lack of parental supervision
• Low peer refusal skills
• Drug experimentation
• Availability of drugs at school
• Community poverty
Protective Factors for Drug Addiction Includes:
• Self-efficacy (belief in self-control)
• Parental monitoring and support
• Positive relationships
• Good grades
• School anti-drug policies
• Neighborhood resources
Say no to drugs! make your life healthy and wealthy. Udit Kunj foundation is also here to help you out from this addiction.
Hope, so this article is helpful for you to get knowledge related to drugs and help you understand how it affect an individual life.