The Effects Of Working Memory On Decision Making Of Heroin Addicts And Healthy Controls Essay

Addiction, it is all around us, affecting people from all walks of life, it is not limited to certain social classes or lifestyles. It is found in every ethnic group, regardless of gender or age. It affects our neighbors, our friends, and our family either directly or indirectly. Although substances such as alcohol and illegal drugs are two of the most common addictions we hear about, there is a wide range of substances and even activities such as gambling and shopping. There is some debate whether addiction is a brain disease or a choice.

“As we go through the day we pause, when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the right thought or action. We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day ‘Thy will be done.’ We are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions. We become much more efficient. We do not tire so easily, for we are not burning up energy foolishly as we did when we were trying to arrange life to suit ourselves” – Alcohol Anonymous. Alcohol and gambling are two addictions that impair an individual judgment, decision making, learning and memory, and behavior control. Moreover, the focus of this paper will explore the two different types of meetings I attended and then compare and contrast both.

Brain chemistry can affect different addicts more then others. Drugs and alcohol are more of the main addictions that brain chemistry affects. Once taking these addictive substances your internal natural drug dopamine is lowers causing you to seek more external addictive substances. This causes craving and makes it a lot harder for the addict to stop. In Olds and Milner’s later experiments, they allowed the rats to press a particular lever to arouse themselves, to the effect that they would press it as much as seven-hundred times per hour. This region soon came to be known as the "pleasure center". Using drugs and alcohol stimulates the pleasure center in the brain that makes your brain think, “feels good- want more“. This can make it increasingly harder for an addict to stop using, until they hit a point called “rock bottom”. This is where choice comes back into play.

Alcohol consumption and illicit drug use are examples of personal decision making and patterns of behavior that have

The ponderance that Brain = Behavior and the inherent ramifications of such proves no more fascinating than when addressed in the context of "Addiction and the Brain". Essential to consider is:

When it comes to the topic of addiction, most of us will readily agree that it is a miserable trait to possess. An addiction is a physical and psychological state of being that if not treated correctly could result into harmful wrongdoing. In The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, he recounts a story in which a fatigued housewife named Angie Bachmann lost all of her family’s assets, amounting to a million dollars due to a gambling addiction. Every habit has three components: a cue or a trigger of an automatic behavior to start, a routine the behavior itself, and a reward which is how our brain learns to remember this pattern for the future. According to Duhigg, “you cannot extinguish a bad habit, you can only change it” (63). Duhigg

Basic neurobiological research has improved our understanding of the biological and genetic causes of addiction. These findings have helped establish addiction as a biological brain disease that is chronic and relapsing in nature (Leshner, 1997). As the central nervous system is considered to be the communication pathway to the entire body with the brain being its control mechanism. The brain processes sensory information from throughout the body, guides muscle movement and locomotion, regulates a multitude of bodily functions, forms thoughts and feelings, modulates perception and moods, and essentially controls all behavior (Leshner, 1997). The body and brain then become defendant on this stimuli, as the body and brain adjust to the rewards of receiving this type of sensation. This is where the substance abuse and addiction problems

This article focuses on examining how the brain effects cocaine dependent individuals and treatment. The first section primarily focuses on providing a biopsychosocial description of cocaine addiction or dependence based on recent research findings. This description includes a discussion on the evolution of cocaine dependence to become a major public health issue. This is followed by an evaluation of the social impact of the problem. The analysis is carried out on the premise on why cocaine dependence and

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse 2014, the disease model addiction is considered a brain disease that can affect multiple circuits in the brain, which involve motivation, learning, memory and inhibitory control over one’s behavior. Because drug addiction and abuse have so many dimensions and disrupts aspects of one’s life, treatment is just not that simple. Addiction treatment must be able to stop an individual from using drugs and continuously maintain a drug free lifestyle, and achieve productive functioning in working, family and society. Because a person’s addiction is typically considered a chronic disease, those who have the disease cannot simply stop using drugs in a few days and totally be cured. Some require long-term and repeated episodes of care to be able to achieve one’s ultimate goal of sustaining abstinence and recovery of their lives. A report conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), the

Impulsivity is frequently observed in addictive behaviours, particularly in drug abuse (Perry & Carroll,2008), and research shows that drug users are more impulsive than non-drug users (Brady et al.,1998). Alcoholics value more immediate rewards in delay discounting tasks (Petry, 2001), as

It is important to know if there is a link between gambling disorders and substance use because it can assist in finding treatment that works more effectively for comorbidity of these disorders. It is also important to note that it could also help figure out the neurological explanation to addiction because drugs can change the shape and processes of a brain, and gambling is a form of addiction that does not. Pathological gambling and substance abuse/ dependence have similar classifications. This paper will provide evidence to answer the question “what is relationship between gambling disorders and substance use in adults?”

Addiction can be a challenging brain disease; individuals afflicted by addiction experience an uncontrollable urge to use a substance or perform a behavior, regardless of the consequences (text). Nearly 23 million Americans suffer with addiction, not including those who are addicted to tobacco (text). The excessive use of these substances or continuous acts of behavior leads to immediate activation of the brain’s central reward system, which results in feelings of euphoria (text), and consequently leads to compulsion for the substance or behavior (text). There are two categories of addiction, substance addiction and process addictions. Someone with a substance addiction might be an alcoholic or a drug user, while someone with a process addiction might shop compulsively, gamble excessively, or have uncontrollable sexual urges.

Scientists and physicians say that addiction is a complex, but treatable disease that affects brain function and behavior. The use of

     Gambling addiction is an issue found in numerous areas where gambling is legal. People who are addicted to gambling, also know as problem gamblers, face many health risks including depression, suicidal thoughts, loss of sleep, loss of appetite, migraine and anxiety in addition to marriage breakdown, problems at work and bankruptcy (9). About 2 percent of adults are thought to be problem gamblers (1). In today’s society this costly addiction is not often considered to be a common problem among those who gamble. Only a small amount of states in the U.S. give enough attention toward this rising problem of people that are sometimes even willing to commit crimes just to aid their addiction. In the past our

It is shown that people that tend to be involved in the use of drugs do so after making a voluntary choice (Heyman, 2009). The major use of drugs for social and non-medical preferences can lead to dependence and further addictions, it is a choice that people tend to make and from that it can lead to wanting it more, do it more with friends and further it becoming an addiction, that then effects the brain and body. When drugs are used in the wrong way they can cause many health issues but some people still tend to refer to drug addiction as a disease. Yes, There has been compelling evidence that addiction is a disease, however the result shown are weak and inconclusive. Results of different brain scans are shown by The National Institute of Drug Abuse (2017) are used to back up that addiction in fact is a disease, however the brain scans used in this research are not symbolic of any abnormal changes. The research by The National Institute of Drug Abuse do point out that changes in an individual’s brain is shown as evidence that addiction is a brain disease, however this argument can be shown as mistaken as changes in many human brains can be seen as not exclusive in addicts, although they can occur when a person is normal (Branch,2011). To top it off the information that is stated by the NIDA however doesn’t show evidence of the behaviour of addicts being involuntary or