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Tag: addiction causes

Teens and drugs: Drug use statistics and treatment that works

Here are some drug use statistics: Over 80% of teens engage in some form of deviant behavior (1). Over 50% of high-school seniors admit to having used drugs (2). Only 10%-15% of the population develop drug addiction problems related to their drug use (1). The question is: If the majority of teens experiment with drug…

August 28, 2012
How does it all start? My thoughts on addiction causes and substance abuse

I was talking with a friend the other night, and he asked me my opinion about the line between addiction and normal behavior. He was wondering whether I think that everyone who looks at porn is a sex addict. I don’t. (see some of our posts on sex addiction here) Still, the conversation made me…

February 27, 2010
Addiction-brain effects: Sex addiction, neurotransmitters, and being love addicted

***A disclaimer: Sex addiction is a relatively new concept in science. I haven’t been able to find much research on the subject, so much of what is being said here is my interpretation of the current literature on sexual responsivity in humans.*** I’ve already mentioned that scientists are beginning to consider behavioral addictions (like gambling…

August 30, 2009
Addiction causes – Learned self regulation and its possible benefits for drug use problems

In the first part of this little series on addiction cause and self-regulation I talked about some of the genetic influence on impulsivity that have been shown to also be related to drug use. In this next part, I want to drive home some recent ideas regarding learning related to self-regulation. It’s no secret that…

August 27, 2009
Addiction causes – Genetic variability related to attention, impulsivity, and drug use.

It will probably come as no surprise to at least most of you that addiction is closely linked to problems of self-regulation (like ADD and ADHD). This is one of the main reasons that professionals view addiction as a disease, and not a choice. This post is pretty advanced, but it should leave you knowing…

August 13, 2009
Struggling with my addiction: Recovery, addiction, and the everyday stuff

I’ve written about my own struggles with my addiction on here numerous times. I’ve used crystal meth, ecstasy, cocaine, marijuana, alcohol, LSD, mushrooms, and more, though the first few were the ones that really got me. After an extended career as a dealer and addict, I turned a new leaf and made a new life…

July 9, 2009
Addiction brain effects : Opiate addiction – Heroin, oxycontin and more

Okay, we’ve talked about crystal meth and cocaine and how they affect the brain during drug use. As I mentioned, both cocaine and meth interfere with the way the brain stores and cleans up important neurotransmitters, including, most importantly, Dopamine and Norepinephrine. The class of drugs known as opiates, which includes morphine, heroin, codeine, and…

July 3, 2009
The brain addiction connection : Crystal meth, and our friend dopamine

We’ve talked about the general way in which neurons in the brain communicate with one another and then reviewed the ways in which cocaine messes some of the basic processes that the brain depends on. It’s time to move on to another drug, and since the brain-addiction connection is similar for meth and cocaine, it…

June 27, 2009