User:Asherm4802/Addiction psychology

When in the article it started off with "Addiction is an issue that many individuals are familiar with." I believe that there could be a better way to start off the paragraph. Something with more information on or how individuals or what makes it sod familiar with people. Possibly a quick description on addiction and the relation with Americans.

Thank you for your feedback! I agree with you that the first sentence is pretty bland and does not offer much substance. I have made changes based off your feedback. I     incorporated some statistics regarding how many people are affected by addiction (Anne).

Lead
About 1 in 7 Americans suffer from active addiction to a particular substance. Addiction can cause physical, psychological, and emotional harm to those who are affected by it. The American Society of Addiction Medicine defines addiction as follows: "Addiction is a treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual’s life experiences. People with addiction use substances or engage in behaviors that become compulsive and often continue despite harmful consequences." In the world of psychology and medicine, there are two models that are used in understanding the psychology behind addiction itself. '''One model is referred to as the disease model of addiction. The disease model of addiction suggests that addiction is a diagnosable disease similar to cancer or diabetes. This model attributes addiction to substances or alcohol to a chemical imbalance in an individuals anatomy that could be caused my genetic or other environmental factors. ''' The second model is the choice model of addiction. Indicating that Researchers argue that the addiction process is like the disease model with a target organ being the brain, some type of defect, and symptoms of the disease. Addiction is like the choice model with a disorder of genes, a reward, memory, stress, and choice. Both models result in compulsive behavior.

Substance addictions relate to drugs, alcohol, and smoking. Process addictions relate to non-substance-related behaviors such as gambling, spending, sexual activity, gaming, the internet, and food.

Psychologists' oldest definition of addiction is that the addict has a lack of self-control from something that has an awarding effect that keeps you coming back. The addicted party wants to abstain, but they can't resist the temptation. Addicts lose control over their actions. It is viewed that an addict battles with their addiction and wanting abstinence and gain control over their actions.

Article body
This is the next section I will be editing. The titles of each section were already in bold, so these are not my edits, however anything else in bold are my contributions(Anne).

Theories of Addiction [edit]
'''Addiction can express itself in numerous different ways and look different in every person who struggles with addiction. Over the course of many years, researcher and scientist have tried to pinpoint the cause of addiction. This has lead to many different theories and explanations for what causes individuals to become relentlessly dependent on drugs, alcohol, or other addictive substances. A few of these theories include, the disease model, the choice model, genetic contributions, the reward effect, and other environmental factors. Each of these theories will be explained and discuss the limitations of each below.'''

Disease model in addiction

According to the new disease model, rather than being a disease in the conventional sense, addiction is a disease of choice. That is, it is a disorder of the parts of the brain necessary to make proper decisions. As one becomes addicted to cocaine, the ventral tegmentum nucleus accumbens in the brain is the organ. The defect is stress-induced hedonic regulation.

Understanding the impact that genes, reward, memory, stress, and choice have on an individual will begin to explain the Disease Model of Addiction

Genetic

Studies have proven that genetic variations and differences in our neurobiology can alter an individuals vulnerability to developing an addiction. Estimates have shown that around 40%-60% of the susceptibility of an individual to develop an addiction to drugs ,nicotine and alcohol is allotted to genetic variables. The genetic makeup of an individual determines how they respond to alcohol. What causes an individual to be more prone to addiction is their genetic makeup. For example, there are genetic differences in how people respond to methylphenidate (Ritalin) injections.

Reward

'''One of the earliest theories of addiction was the reward effect. This theory suggests that an individual consumes a substance that will elicit a pleasurable effect. The individual continues to use this substance to recreate this same feeling, ultimately becoming addicted to the sensation they receive from the substance .The idea of positive reinforcement has been used to explain why individuals become increasingly dependent on a particular substance. An issue with this theory is that most addictive drugs cause an individual to build up a tolerance and the effects of the drug will decrease as an individuals tolerance increases. This requires individuals to use a higher dosage of the substance which in many causes can cause adverse side effects.'''  Increased dopamine is correlated with increased pleasure. For that reason, dopamine plays a significant role in reinforcing experiences. It tells the brain the drug is better than expected. When an individual uses a drug, there may be a surge of dopamine in the midbrain, which can result in the shifting of that individual's pleasure "threshold" (see figures one and two).

Memory

The neurochemical, glutamate is the most abundant neurochemical in the brain. It is critical in memory consolidation. When an addict discovers an addicting behavior, glutamate plays a role by creating the drug cues. It is the neurochemical in motivation which initiates the drug seeking, thus creating the addiction.

Stress

When under stress the brain is unable to achieve homeostasis. As a result, the brain reverts to allostasis, which in turn alters the brains ability to process pleasure, which is experienced at the hedonic "set point" (see figures one). Thus, previous pleasures may become no longer pleasurable. This is also known as anhedonia, or "pleasure deafness". When stressed, the addict may experience extreme craving—an intense, emotional, obsessive experience.

Choice

An addict may incur damage to the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and the prefrontal cortex (PFC). This damage causes a tendency to choose small and immediate rewards over larger but delayed rewards, deficits in social responding due to decreased awareness of social cues, and a failure of executive function such as sensitivity to consequences.