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Addiction: Drugs
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Addiction was a term used to describe a devotion, attachment, dedication, inclination, etc. Nowadays... the term [A]ddiction is used to describe a recurring compulsion by an individual to engage in some specific activity, despite harmful consequences to the individual's health, mental state or social life. The term is often reserved for drug addictions but it is sometimes applied to other compulsions, such as problem gambling, and compulsive overeating. Factors that have been suggested as causes of addiction include genetic, biological/pharmacological and social factors.
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Addiction is the uncontrollable compulsion to repeat a behavior regardless of any negative consequences. Many substances or behaviors can create a pattern of conditions recognized as addiction, which include a craving for more of the drug or behavior, an increase in tolerance accompanied by specific symptoms of withdrawal. Drugs that provide either pleasure or relief from pain create the possibility of being abused, resulting in a dependency or addiction.
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Addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use despite harmful consequences to the individual that is addicted and to those around them. Drug addiction is a brain disease because the abuse of drugs leads to changes in the structure and function of the brain. Although it is true that for most people the initial decision to take drugs is voluntary, over time the changes in the brain caused by repeated drug abuse can affect a person’s self control and ability to make sound decisions, and at the same time send intense impulses to take drugs.
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Addiction is a dependence on a behavior or sub-stance that a person is powerless to stop. The term has been partially replaced by the word dependence for substance abuse. Addiction has been extended... to include mood-altering behaviors or activities. Some researchers speak of two types of addictions: substance addictions (for example, alcoholism, drug abuse, and smoking); and process addictions (for example, gambling, spending, shopping, eating, and sexual activity). There is a growing recognition that many addicts, such as polydrug abusers, are addicted to more than one sub-stance or process.
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"Addiction is a brain disease that is devastating for families and society," said Fowler. "Chemistry -- through the development of radiotracers that can monitor the distribution and kinetics of drugs and receptors in the brain -- is at the core
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Scientific research into addiction... has led experts to conclude that addiction is actually a disease, a chronic illness like diabetes or hypertension. The American Medical Association broke new ground approximately forty years ago when it declared alcoholism to be a disease. And in the past decade, dramatic advances in technology have allowed scientists to examine the brain itself in search of the causes, mechanisms, and consequences of addiction. Today, scientists and physicians overwhelmingly agree that while use and even abuse of drugs such as alcohol and cocaine is a behavior over which the individual exerts control, addiction to these substances is something different. Scientists have begun to understand why addicted people may sacrifice everything that's important to them -- their jobs, their families, their homes -- in the quest for a chemical fix.
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