Research Paper Example: Addiction as a Brain Disease

Many individuals believe that addiction is a weakness in character rather than a disease, and the misconception adds to the stigma associated with substance addiction and unjustifiably limits the challenge of addressing chemical dependence.

Progress in imaging technology and neuroscience has quickly developed our comprehension of addiction and to a great deal demonstrated support for Brain Disease Model of Addiction (BDMA) (Lebowitz & Appelbaum, 2017).

It is conjectured that neuroscience provides support to the BDMA and provides new opportunities for the treatment and prevention of substance-use disorder, as well as the associated behavioral addictions.

Disease Model

Addiction was formally proclaimed a treatable disease by the American Medical Association in 1956.

The misrepresentation of addiction as a weakness in personal character adds to addiction-related stigma and minimizes the possibilities of finding the real cure for the disorder.

Characterizing substance use and addiction as a disease guarantees people the right to access medical treatment and insurance (Koob & Volkow, 2010).

Addiction and Physical Brain Changes

Heritable qualities can increase vulnerability to the development of physical changes following exposure to rewarding stimuli.

Physical changes as a result of consistent exposure to stimuli that reinforce the addiction through the weakening of brain function are important to motivation and self-regulation to abstain.

Scholars have characterized conditional and hereditary physical attributes that are constant across chemical addictions, which include various addictive or compulsive behaviors too.

Essence of Addiction

The whole idea of addiction has suffered incredibly from misconception and imprecision. Twenty years of scientific research has shown that concentrating on this psychological versus physical qualification is missing the goal and a diversion from the main problems.

Compulsive craving that overpowers every other motivation is the main driver of the massive social and health-related to addiction.

In refreshing the national discussion on drug abuse, it is important to note that addiction is a disease of the brain expressed as a compulsive behavior. Any development in terms of enslavement and recuperation is pegged on social context, behavior, and biology.

Biological Determinism and Choice

Recent scholarly discourse revolves around flawed character verses sick brain, choice versus biological determinism.

The quandary, obviously, is that it is difficult to comprehend dependence in the event that one overlooks the truth that addicts do have the capacity with respect to choice and a comprehension of ramifications.

Compelling a choice adds perplexity to the long-standing discourse on the extent to which to hold substance dependents responsible in ways that are helpful to them and to whatever is left of society.

Conclusion

Addiction as a ceaseless, relapsing brain disease is an absolutely new idea for a significant part of policymakers, the general population and, tragically, for some, medical professionals.

At the policy level, comprehending the significance of addiction and substance use for public health is important for the development of effective public health strategies.

An accurate comprehension of the idea of addiction and substance abuse ought to likewise influence our criminal justice systems.

At a significantly more broad level, understanding addiction as a disease of the brain likewise influences how society manages and approaches addicts.

There is the need to understand that regardless of the voluntary behavior as the origination of addiction, an addicts brain structure is different from that of a non-addict.

Medics understand how to manage individuals in various brain states for Alzheimer's disease and schizophrenia.

References

Di, C. G. (2003). Nucleus accumbens shell and core dopamine: differential role in behavior and addiction. Behavioural Brain Research, 137, 1, 75.

Goldstein, Rita Z. & Nora D. Volkow, (2002) Drug Addiction and Its Underlying Neurobiological Basis: Neuroimaging Evidence for the Involvement of the Frontal Cortex, American Journal of Psychiatry 159, no. 10 (2002): 1642 1652.

Kent C. Berridge. (2017) Is Addiction a Brain Disease? Neuroethics.

Koob, G. F., & Volkow, N. D. (2010). Neurocircuitry of addiction. Neuropsychopharmacology: Official Publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 35, 1, 217-38.

Jack E. Henningfield, Leslie M. Schuh, and Murray E. Jarvik, (2005) Pathophysiology of Tobacco Dependence, in NeuropsychopharmacologyThe Fourth Generation of Progress, eds. Floyd E. Bloom and David J. Kupfer et al. New York: Raven Press, 1715-1729, at 1715.

Lewis, Marc. (2011). Memoirs of an addicted brain. New York: Public Affairs Perseus Books.

Matthew S., Lebowitz, & Appelbaum P. (2017), Beneficial And Detrimental Effects Of Genetic Explanations For Addiction. International Journal of Social Psychiatry.

Volkow, N. D., & Morales, M. (August 13, 2015). The Brain on Drugs: From Reward to Addiction. Cell, 162, 4, 712-725.