Capstone Notes Brielle Buss
INTRODUCTION:
Addiction is a compulsive behavior that affects all ages, races, sexualities, and gender identities.
There are no restrictions on those who can and cannot become addicted to a drug or substance. It
is common that drugs and alcohol are used for the purpose of fun and individuals have no issues
with the amount they consume weekly. Unfortunately, not everyone gets the luxury of allowing
themselves to use drugs and alcohol just for one night. Addiction is ongoing and can be seen in
many different forms. Besides the obvious drugs and alcohol addiction, people can also be
addicted to things such as gambling, eating, exercising, shopping, self-harm, and even having
sexual relations with another individual. There is no medical cure for addiction. To put a stop to
any type of addiction, it requires a time-consuming process of gaining back self-motivation and
self-love. It is important to know the main causes of addiction and how it works to prevent future
incidents where you may find yourself becoming dependent on something that interferes with the
way you live your life.
Cites for Introduction
https://calgarydreamcentre.com/statistics-on-addiction-in-canada/
PART ONE: How Does Addiction Work?
How Addiction Works
• Addiction develops when the pleasure circuits in the brain become over-stimulated
• When a person becomes addicted to a substance it is because their brain has been
changing
• Drugs such as nicotine, cocaine, and opioids flood the reward pathway with dopamine-
this makes it 10 times more than a natural surge of dopamine
• Your brain remembers the surge of dopamine and will associate it with the drug that was
consumed prior
Causes and Signs of Addiction
Common Signs of Addiction:
• Having the inability to stop
- Not being able to control the amount of drugs/alcohol you consume
- May engage in dangerous or unsafe activities to feed their addiction
- An individual may have tried multiple times to stop, but they keep going back to it
• Developing a High Tolerance
- A person may find themself needing more of that drug/substance for it to work (give
them a high)
• Focus is Revolved Around the Substance
- The only thing the individual can think about is the substance
- They spend more time craving and wanting the substance more than they do anything
else
- The addiction has almost taken over a person’s entire life
• Lack of Self-Control
- An individual may feel helpless and lost complete control over the substance
- They could feel guilty and become depressed due to thinking about how much addiction
has impacted their lives
• Personal and Mental Health Issues
- Addiction effects your personal, mental, and physical health
- Addiction can ruin close and personal relationships along with their career
- Addicts can become irresponsible allowing the substance to take over all aspects of their
life; they may not go to work/school due to the substance controlling their mind and body
• Withdrawals
- People who are addicted to a substance and attempt to quit may suffer from intense
anxiety
- Withdrawals from a substance can cause sweating, shaking, and even vomiting
Common Causes of Addiction:
• Genetics
- Some studies have shown that 40%-60% of addiction can be determined by genetics (if
addiction runs in the family, one may be more vulnerable to addictive habits)
• Mental health
- Mental health is a big factor in addiction, typically those who suffer from a mental health
disorder (bi-polar, depression, and post-traumatic-stress-disorder) will also experience
addiction in attempt to cope
• Environmental Surroundings
- The amount of exposure an individual has to a certain substance can factor into addiction
- If a child grows up in a harsh environment, they can develop trauma which can later
cause them to become an addict
Possible Treatments for Addicts
• Rehabilitation Centers (REHAB)
- Rehab is where addicts can go to live sober and begin getting treatment
- You can live at the rehab center where there is counselling and support provided to
ensure the addict can recover and live a healthier lifestyle
• Medications
- Specific kinds of medications can reduce cravings and withdrawals
- Medication can help treat mental disorders that may be interfering with an addict's life
• Therapy
- There are multiple different types of therapy addicts can involve themselves in to talk
about how they can make changes to their behaviors
- This allows addicts to gain new perspectives on life and help them get back motivation
and self-control
• Support Groups
- Hundreds of addicts find it useful to take part in support groups to maintain a sober life
- There are many kinds of support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics
Anonymous, or Al-Anon (Al-Anon is for people who are witnessing someone deal with
addiction)
- These support groups allow addicts to share their experiences with addiction and can
relate to each other about the struggles they went through
A Typical Day in Rehab
• Addicts will be woken up early and fed a healthy breakfast before they engage in
different kinds of meetings (yoga and meditation is available for individuals so they can
start their morning off open minded)
• The 12-step program can be introduced- workers will give coping strategies for addicts so
they can live a normal everyday life (focuses on maintaining a healthy routine)
• Addicts will attend individual therapy (cognitive behavioral therapy) and group therapy
(alcoholics anonymous, narcotics anonymous)
• The 12-step program is looked at in the evening and is highly recommended for people to
use to gain back their healthy lifestyle
My Personal Experience in a NA/AA Meeting
• I got the opportunity to attend an AA/NA meeting with my mom's cousin who is now
seventeen years sober. I went to gain more knowledge surrounding the topic of addiction.
The man running the meeting would give a prompt for the addicts to speak on when and
if they chose to. Before someone began speaking, they’d refer to themselves as an addict.
I believe they do this because they accept who they are. Everyone who spoke had a
different story to share. There were many different situations, yet they could all relate to
each other. After carefully listening to addicts share parts of their stories, I noticed they
all find that support groups are the most useful form of coping. Individuals appreciate the
people in their support groups more than anything. There is no group of people who are
more accepting and understanding of one another. They accept that they’re all going
through the same thing and want to make a change in the way they live their lives. At the
meetings, everyone wants the same things. Everyone wants to be motivated and loved.
They want to love themselves and allow other people to love them. It’s difficult to find
these feelings during addiction. When they talk during these meetings, they can learn new
strategies and coping mechanisms from a new perspective. At the end of the meeting,
everyone stands up and huddles up, or holds hands. They say the serenity prayer, “God,
grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the
things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
Cites for PART ONE
https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/how-an-addicted-brain-works
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/6407-addiction
https://www.addictioncenter.com/rehab-questions/typical-day-rehab/
PART TWO: How Can Addiction Effect the Brain?
How Drugs Affect the Brain
• The human brain is the most complex organ
• Our brain consists of neurons
• Neurons are responsible for sending signals back and forth throughout our body
• Drugs can interfere with the way neurons send and receive signals
• Certain drugs activate our neurotransmitters (marijuana and heroin)
• Drugs don’t activate our neurons in the natural way that neurotransmitters do, this causes
abnormal messages to be sent and received throughout our body
• Drugs such as cocaine overall interfere with our brain’s form of natural communication
• The brain can suffer from life-sustaining consequences from repetitive drug use
Specific Parts of the Brain Affected by Drugs
• The basal ganglia
- The part of the brain that is responsible for healthy forms of motivation
- Oversees an individual's motive to socialize, eat, sleep, or participate in intimate relations
with others
- This part of the brain can be known as the “reward circuit”
- Drugs over activate this circuit which is the reason individual’s feel a ‘high’ after the
intake of drugs
- With repeated exposure to drugs of any kind, the brain can adapt to only having feelings
of pleasure when the drug is present in the human body
• The extended amygdala
- This part of the brain is responsible for feelings of stress and anxiety; it controls our
overall worry
- When faced without the drug of choice, this is the part of the brain that makes an
individual have withdrawals and feel unease
- When an individual is struck with withdrawals, it motivates them to take the drug again
to fill the void of feeling anxiety and stress
- This circuit becomes sensitive with increased and repetitive drug use
• The prefrontal cortex
- This part of our brain is responsible for making decisions, problem solving, and self-
control
- This part of our brain is the last part to mature
- The prefrontal cortex makes it difficult to control yourself- main reason why it is so hard
to quit drugs after repetitive use
• The brain stems
- The brain stem is responsible for basic human functions in everyday life such as
breathing, sleeping, and maintaining your heart rate
- This is what plays a part in overdosing; it causes depressed breathing and death
Dopamine:
• Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is thought to oversee how humans feel pleasure; this
includes specific behaviors like eating, socializing, and having sexual relations
• Our brains are trained to feel the urge to repeat pleasurable activities- therefore when
drugs are consumed, it increases the chances of addiction because we found pleasure in
taking them
• The dopamine signals can alter the neural connectivity that makes it easier to repeat a
pleasurable activity without thinking about it, this leads to habits
• The consumption of drugs causes larger surges of dopamine to be released which teaches
the brain to seek drugs
• Things in a person’s daily life that have been linked with drug use can cause intense
cravings whenever the person is exposed to it; if you used drugs every night before
brushing your teeth, every time you brush your teeth, it can cause cravings due to the
brain remembering specific patterns and routines
• When a person is relying on drugs and allowing them to be reputedly exposed to their
brain and body, they are more likely to be depressed
- When a person is an addict, their brain gets used to only finding joy in life after the drug
has been consumed
- Habits can form and create extreme and unhealthy lifestyles for a person
Neurons
• Neurons are information transmitters- message senders
• An electrical impulse is responsible for triggering the neurotransmitters to release from
the axon into the synapse
• Receptors are located on the dendrites of the neuron- they're responsible for processing
the messages being sent to the brain
Cites for PART TWO
https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/drugs-brain
https://nida.nih.gov/sites/default/files/mod3.pdf
PART THREE: Interviews
Question #1: How did you become an addict?
Question #2: What did addiction feel like to you?
Question #3: How did addiction affect your daily life?
Question #4: How did addiction affect your family and friends?
Question #5: How did addiction interfere with your plans in the future?
Question #6: Where and when did you seek help?
Question #7: At what point during addiction did you decide seeking help was necessary?
Question #8: Did your family support you when you wanted to get help?
Question #9: What did you lose from your addiction?
Question #10: What kind of things have you gained from sobriety?
Question #11: How do you maintain sobriety?
