Science of Addiction

Addiction is almost all science like any other illness or disease, and today I am going to be talking about the science of addiction. Addiction is a chronic but treatable brain disease, when you look at it like this it is no different than diseases like chronic pain and chronic arthritis. Both of these diseases are chronic in the sense that you can never get rid of them, but you can treat them so it is easier to live with. There are constantly new scientific breakthroughs to try and help people who struggle with addiction, like any other disease they are trying to find the best way to treat these chronic illnesses so people can live there lives as normal as possible. Although there are still people today who do not yet understand why and how people become addicted to things, and addiction is something that scientists are constantly learning more about so that they can revolutionize how they can help people with the disease. The disease addiction effects the brain and the behavior of a person. There are many biological and environmental factors to why one may develop an addiction and this is the beginning into searching for the genetic variations that contribute towards the development and or progression of this disease. Almost every one in ten Americans over the age of twelve classified with substance abuse or dependence. With this many people addiction seems to be taking an emotional a physical toll on the United States. The country also spends so much money on substance abuse and addiction every year, it is estimated to exceed half a trillion dollars on health care spending's, productivity and crime. Although places such as The National Institutes of Health are trying to make an effort to educate Americans about the nature of addiction and it's dangers.

Addiction is looked at as a brain disease because research has shown that it changes brain structure and function. The advances in brain imaging science has allowed scientists to look inside the brain of an addict and know exactly which parts of the brain are effected by addiction and substance abuse. This knowledge will allow the development of new approaches for addiction prevention and treatment. Although every 1 out of every 10 people or 23.3 million Americans have an addiction, only about 10% of them are receiving treatment that they need to help them be successful at treating there addiction.

An adolescences brain is different than a adults brain because it is not yet fully developed. People are still unsure as to whether adolescences brain may be more vulnerable to substance abuse and addiction than an adult brains, or because they are younger and there brain is still developing that they offer more resilience; however, treatment can produce positive results. Many families are also scared to reach for help outside the home because of the stigma around addiction. When it comes to treatments science tends to turn to medication for help just because of the nature of the relationship between science and medication. There are many FDA-approved medications on the market to help treat addiction that have been proven to be effective and help treat addictions. When it comes down to it science is the base of addiction. If it wasn't for science we wouldn't be able to understand it like we do now and we wouldn't have the effective treatments and prevention methods for addiction.