Addictives include illegal narcotics, medicaments and common products. With regard to their effects on human’s body, these substances can be divided into stimulants and depressants.
Stimulants such as nicotine and cocaine cause increasing of energy, excitement and euphoria. This forces to use the drug, and worsen the addiction.
Depressants such as alcohol and barbiturates facilitate relaxation and pain-relief. Addictives such as morphine and methadone act by imitating endorphins, chemicals produced naturally by the body which have effects similar to dopamine.
The choice of America's addict population is heroin. Heroin is highly addictive, and a habit can be appearing in a week to three weeks of daily or frequent use. Continued use of the drug erases pain, anxiety, fear, and depression and all human feeling as well.
The entertainment worldwide leads to a huge demand for marihuana. The common physical and neurological effects include increased heart rate, lowered blood pressure, deterioration of coordination and concentration.
Cocaine or "crack" is the second most popular illegal addictive in Europe after marijuana. The addictive is a potent stimulant of central nervous system. The euphoria is usually followed by feelings of discomfort and depression and a craving to use the drug again. In addition to irritability, mood disturbances and paranoia cocaine use causes several dangerous physical conditions. It leads to disturbances in heart rhythm and heart attacks, and a potentially fatal overdose.
The mixture of cocaine and heroin, known as "speedball" is a particularly popular and dangerous combination, as the effects of the drugs complement each other, but also camouflage the symptoms of an overdose. It has been responsible for numerous deaths.
In modern pain management with opiates’ physical dependence is nearly universal. However, there are patients who don’t function well without opiate treatment.
Common people are well aware of devastating consequences of using such addictives as narcotics, whereas consumption of alcohol, tobacco is believed to be not so dangerous. However, according to statistics, the addictives entailing loss of productivity and the most expensive treatment are alcohol, smoking, and drugs.
The medicine describes alcoholism as a disease that causes addiction. For many people, drinking alcohol is nothing more than a pleasant way to relax. However, people with alcohol dependence have lost reliable control of their alcohol consumption. Alcohol dependence is characterized by tolerance and withdrawal symptoms if drinking is suddenly stopped.
Smoking entails changes in the brain that make smokers resistant to the antismoking messages. Nicotine makes the brain to block out the unpleasant stimuli and the smoker becomes calm and relaxed. Withdrawing of smoking makes a smoker less able to stand up to the stressful situations because the smoker is used to be calm under nicotine effect. The addictive is well-known as one of the most addictive substances ever discovered. Its cultural acceptability and legality permission makes it much more dangerous.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Addictions - Worldwide Problem
Addictions are a widespread phenomenon, which destroys lifes of people around the world. What are people’s conscious of term "addictions"? Is addiction disease or harmful habit? There is no consensus to cause, exclusion and treatment method of addictions.
In accepted meaning, an addiction is a state in which someone develops physical dependence on drug addiction. When the drug or substance on which someone is dependent is removed, it will entail characteristic set of signs and symptoms. Addiction is associated with boost of drug tolerates.
Generally, term "addiction" is used to describe an obsession, physical or psychological dependence to drug, alcoholism, overeating, etc.
There is no absolute agreement on the exact nature of addiction. Originally, addiction has been explained by impact of psychoactive substances like alcohol, tobacco and others that having been ingested, cross the blood-brain barrier and temporarily alter the chemical milieu of the brain.
In practice, addictions often have physical and psychological components. Physical dependence is induced by depressants of the central nervous system such as opiates, barbiturates and alcohol as well.
Physical dependence on a substance is defined by characteristic withdrawal symptoms if use of substance ceases. Addition begins with a voluntary decision to use drugs for its ability to induce pleasure. Nobody starts out going to become an addict, but afterwards, he lost control and a voluntary user turns into an addict. The absence of drugs leads to extreme physical discomfort. Thus, the aim of taking drugs turns up to ease the anxiety caused by the absence of them.
In the cases of heavy physical dependence, the human body becomes so dependent on the particular drug that it gives up working out its own natural substances and produces opposing chemicals. Due to brain changes occurred, it qualifies as a brain disease expressed as compulsive behavior.
The quickness of becoming addicted to drugs depends on the substance, the dose of used, the extent of euphoria, and genetic and psychological factors.
Psychological dependency means a dependency of the mind, and results such psychological withdrawal symptoms as depression, irritation, insomnia and so on. A physically dependent person manages to reduce the dose slowly until his recovery. However, in case of psychological dependence the person is under risk to relapse into abuse.
Psychological dependence is not limited to drugs’ application; even person’s behavior can be defined as addiction if it gets uncontrollable such as in the cases of problem gambling, Internet addiction, eating, self-injury, work addiction, shopping and so on. In such cases the addiction describes a compulsion by someone to be occupied with some activity, in spite of harmful outcome to his mental state or health.
In accepted meaning, an addiction is a state in which someone develops physical dependence on drug addiction. When the drug or substance on which someone is dependent is removed, it will entail characteristic set of signs and symptoms. Addiction is associated with boost of drug tolerates.
Generally, term "addiction" is used to describe an obsession, physical or psychological dependence to drug, alcoholism, overeating, etc.
There is no absolute agreement on the exact nature of addiction. Originally, addiction has been explained by impact of psychoactive substances like alcohol, tobacco and others that having been ingested, cross the blood-brain barrier and temporarily alter the chemical milieu of the brain.
In practice, addictions often have physical and psychological components. Physical dependence is induced by depressants of the central nervous system such as opiates, barbiturates and alcohol as well.
Physical dependence on a substance is defined by characteristic withdrawal symptoms if use of substance ceases. Addition begins with a voluntary decision to use drugs for its ability to induce pleasure. Nobody starts out going to become an addict, but afterwards, he lost control and a voluntary user turns into an addict. The absence of drugs leads to extreme physical discomfort. Thus, the aim of taking drugs turns up to ease the anxiety caused by the absence of them.
In the cases of heavy physical dependence, the human body becomes so dependent on the particular drug that it gives up working out its own natural substances and produces opposing chemicals. Due to brain changes occurred, it qualifies as a brain disease expressed as compulsive behavior.
The quickness of becoming addicted to drugs depends on the substance, the dose of used, the extent of euphoria, and genetic and psychological factors.
Psychological dependency means a dependency of the mind, and results such psychological withdrawal symptoms as depression, irritation, insomnia and so on. A physically dependent person manages to reduce the dose slowly until his recovery. However, in case of psychological dependence the person is under risk to relapse into abuse.
Psychological dependence is not limited to drugs’ application; even person’s behavior can be defined as addiction if it gets uncontrollable such as in the cases of problem gambling, Internet addiction, eating, self-injury, work addiction, shopping and so on. In such cases the addiction describes a compulsion by someone to be occupied with some activity, in spite of harmful outcome to his mental state or health.