How does addiction affect the body?
Unfortunately, once the addiction has taken control, excessive use of alcohol or drugs follows. Scientific evidence has demonstrated that prolonged drug and alcohol abuse changes the brain and vital organs in fundamental and long-lasting ways. This excessive use naturally changes the levels of dopamine, serotonin, and GABA in the body that can result in a loss of executive functions and memory recall, lack of sleep, severe mood swings, agitation, anxiety, depression, anger and/or fear. It can also affect the brain’s ability to experience pleasure and pain. Prolonged excessive use can be fatal. Excessive use of drugs (cocaine, heroin, meth, etc.) or alcohol changes these chemical levels to the point where the brain may no longer be able to control these biological elements naturally. An addict may now have to rely on the drugs or alcohol to “self-medicate” to simulate the desired response in their body that the brain was able to generate naturally. And, prolonged excessive use can prove
Addiction is a complex brain disease characterized by compulsive, at times uncontrollable, craving, seeking, and use that persist even in the face of extremely negative consequences. Not only will the addicted person miss the habit terribly, but he or she will also experience disagreeable withdrawal symptoms, which vary from habit to habit. Examples of common addictions are alcoholism, drug addiction, problem gambling, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders and smoking. Scientific research has led experts to conclude that addiction is a disease, a chronic illness like diabetes or hypertension. In 1956 the American Medical Association declared alcoholism to be a disease and in 2001, Alan I. Leshner the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the NIH defined addiction as a “chronic relapsing brain disorder characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use.” Today, scientists and physicians overwhelmingly agree that while use and even abuse of drugs such as alcohol an
