Addiction

I was personally fascinated with the Addiction section in module 3.3. Why do or how can people become addicted to such drugs or habits? The text explains that each individual builds a tolerance to the dangerous or disadvantageous activity that makes a person crave more and act on their craving. Researchers explain that people create an addiction as a way to deal with stress. The addiction may take over one’s life therefore causing that person to not have a reaction to a positive stimuli as a non-addict would. The drug one takes or the habit one has releases the “feel good” chemical, dopamine, in the brain released by the nucleus accumbens. When a large amount of dopamine is present between different neurons, the excess amount stays in the synaptic cleft which is between the presynaptic neuron and the postsynaptic neuron. The video provided by Dr. Benham indeed gave a great visual of how addictive drugs affect the neurons in the brain.

Along with having a tolerance to certain drugs or activities such as video game playing, there come consequences including withdrawal symptoms when one decides to quit. These symptoms vary widely according to the type of drug used over time and the amount used during that time. It has been said that addiction is built up to avoid these withdrawal symptoms but that cannot explain the reason why people actually do become addicted to drugs. 

I was very interested how people can get cravings in response to different cues. For example when an ex-smoker sees or smells a lit cigarette, they will remember the effects it gave them and crave that feeling of smoking once again. Cues also have a lot to deal with the place the drug was used, and remembering the feeling it gave off when on that drug. 

This fun video I found explains the functions of dopamine and serotonin in the brain and how addiction is developed.