Facts About Addiction

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‘œAddiction’ generally refers to an uncontrollable dependence on a substance or an activity ultimately developing into a harmful situation. Addiction ranges from the consumption of  food and liquids to behaviors such as gambling.

Fact 1. ‘œAddiction’ can be termed as ‘œa habitual involuntary psychological or physiological dependence’ whereas withdrawal is caused by the abrupt cessation of the subject of the addiction.

Fact 2.   The root cause of  obesity can be traced to an underlying addiction to specific foods or volumes of food. The cure for obesity can be better understood by studying the causes of food addictions.

Fact 3.   Studies have found that  people who are addicted to food possess the same D2 dopamine gene marker found in alcoholics  and drug addicts.

Fact 4.  People addicted to the Internet have been found to have distinctive features in their brain cell connections and functions that manage attention, executive control, and the processing of emotions.  These traits are similar to that found in the brains of cocaine and heroin addicts.

Fact 5.  An estimated  6-10 percent of the 189 million U.S. Internet users have Internet dependency issues whereas in Germany there are around 1 million Internet addicts.

Fact 6.  A study by Iowa State University has found pathological patterns of video game addiction amongst the youth. Such gamers are twice as likely to have attention problems such as Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Fact 7. Amongst shopping addicts, opiate receptor sites in the brain, such as endorphins and dopamine, are activated giving rise to a good feeling which reinforces repeat actions.

Fact 8.  The total overall cost of  substance abuse in the United States exceeds $600 billion annually. This includes an estimated $193 billion for illicit drugs, $193 billion for tobacco, and $235 billion for alcohol. This excludes the social costs of family disintegration, unemployment, dropping out of the school system, and domestic violence.

Fact 9. Drugs cause abnormal behaviors by disrupting the brain’s communications system.  This is done by imitating the brain’s natural chemical messenger or by stimulating the ‘œreward circuit’ of the brain.

Fact 10. Drugs, such as heroin, are similarly structured to the brain’s chemical messengers called neurotransmitters, which allows the drug to deceive the brain and activate the sending of abnormal messages. Drugs, such as cocaine, will cause nerve cells to release abnormal amounts of dopamine.

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