The Biology of Addiction

1. The Biology of Addiction By Dr. Springer University of Nebraska-Lincoln

2. NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) defines addiction as: a “chronic relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences. • It is considered a brain disease because drugs change the brain… Its structure and how it works, forever! What is Drug Addiction?

3. To feel good • To feel better • To do better • Curiosity (Everyone’s doing it) Why do people take drugs?

4. Environmental factor • Shy or aggressive classroom behavior • Poor school performance • Poor social coping skills • Affiliation with deviant peers • Perceptions of approval of drug-abusing behaviors in environment (school, peers, home) Peers and School

5. Addiction is a developmental disease that typically begins in childhood. • Prefrontal cortex: affects regulation, emotional control, sound decision-making, higher level thinking. • Develops rapidly during adolescence • Substances interfere with normal development of this area Addiction and the Brain

6. Healthy Brain Development

7. 3 Areas affected by drug abuse 1- Brain Stem: Controls functions critical to life. I.e. heart rate, breathing 2- Limbic System: The brain’s reward circuit. It is highly implicated by emotions 3- Cerebral Cortex: Controls specific functions. It enables us to see, feel, hear, and taste. The frontal cortex is the reasoning center of the brain.

8. Drugs decrease brain function

9. Drugs tap into the brain’s communication system and interfere with the way neurons normally send, receive and process info. • All drugs of abuse directly/indirectly target the brain’s reward system by flooding the circuit with Dopamine. • Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that indirectly regulates emotion, cognition, and pleasure. How do drugs affect the brain?

10. Our brains are “hard-wired” to appreciate and to pursue natural rewards because of their critical survival value. • Drugs activate the same circuits that motivate eating and sexual behavior. • Eventually cravings for the drugs can exceed those for food or sex. Drugs and Addiction

11. When drugs are taken, they release 2-10 times the amount of dopamine that natural rewards do! • This overwhelms the reward circuit in the brain as well as changes brain function. • This results in the brain trying to get back to its natural levels, and thus stops producing and/or receiving dopamine (the crash). Drugs vs. Natural Rewards

12. Chronic exposure to drugs disrupts the way critical brain structures interact to control behavior. • In other words, drug addiction erodes a person’s self-control and ability to make sound decisions. Other changes in the brain

13. Addiction is similar to other diseases such as heart disease. • Both disrupt the normal, healthy functioning of the underlying organ, have serious consequences, are preventable, treatable, and if left untreated, can last a lifetime. Diseased Brain & Heart

14. Compulsion: Obsession with alcohol and/or drugs • Control: Inability to stop using • Consequences: Continue to use despite adverse consequences The Three C’s of Addiction

15. Meth Abuser Brain Imaging

16. Strong/positive family bonds • Parental monitoring of children’s activities • Clear rules; consistently enforced • Success in school • Bond with an institution (church) • Understanding conventional norms about abuse Proactive Factors