最近更新时间：03/24/2020
作者：addictions.com医学评论
阅读时间：6minutes
Nowadays, the word “addiction” has become a hot-button issue as its effects touch the lives of more and more people. Whether it be drugs or alcohol, people from all walks of life have been left to deal with药物滥用的后果.
考虑到药物和酒精如何开始球滚动，可以容易地将瘾视为身体问题。虽然成瘾的物理效应不能被否认，但这是抓住一个人日常生活的心理效果，并保持问题。
By understanding addiction and how it works, you can help prevent this epidemic from taking over your life or the life of someone you love.
What is Addiction?
The Physical Component
上瘾的物质，是他们的酒精或药物，都有能力改变大脑的化学工作。虽然这在开始时可能不显而易见，但随着时间的推移，物理分量为全吹成瘾的基础奠定了基础，以便扎根。
In essence, the physical effects of addiction take root within the brain’s chemical environment. From there, ongoing drug use creates a snowball effect that “rewires” the brain’s system in fundamental ways.
行为组成部分
Addiction’s mental-emotional component has to do with the way substance abuse becomes the focus in a person’s daily life. In effect, the physical effects brought on by substance abuse change how the areas of the brain work and interact with one another.
特别是大脑奖励系统，因为该系统严重依赖于平衡化学系统，依赖于成瘾的效果。由于奖励制度基本上决定了一个人的日常优先事项和动机，一旦该系统依赖于药物（或酒精）的效果，就会出现一个完全爆发的成瘾。
Addiction Statistics
Drug & Alcohol Abuse Rates
就成瘾趋势而言，药物和酒精滥用的速率可能是一个非常好的规格。在过去的十年左右，药物滥用率看到了相当大的增加，部分原因是市场上的新方形鸦片药物的涌入。
An estimated 24.6 million Americans reported engaging in some form of substance abuse in 2013. Compared to rates recorded in 2002, substance abuse practices increased by 8.3 percent.
2013年的酒精滥用税率显示52.2％的美国人参与某种形式的饮酒行为。就实际酒精滥用而言，估计为22.9％的饮酒者报告从事狂暴行为。
成瘾的类型
虽然成瘾的影响保持不变，但成瘾物质可以与大脑的化学过程相互作用。
Alcohol
酒精继续排名第一as the most commonly abused addictive substance. Best known for its ability to produce feelings of calm and contentment, alcohol works by slowing down brain chemical activities through its effects on GABA chemical production rates.
GABA, one of a group of essential neurotransmitter chemicals, regulates electrical activity throughout the brain and central nervous system. In excess amounts, GABA reduces electrical activity.Alcohol’s effects increase GABA production rates.
凭借酒精滥用，持续干扰GABA产量抵消了大脑的化学平衡，这使得成瘾循环在运动中。
Opiates
Opiates include prescription painkillers, such as codeine andfentanyland illegal drugs likeheroin和鸦片，所有这些都是高度上瘾的。像酒精一样，阿片类药物也缓慢了大脑和中枢神经系统的化学活性，但以不同的方式。
大多数阿片类药物迫使大脑产生高水平的血清素，多巴胺和去甲肾上腺素。这些神经递质在调节身体自身的疼痛管理系统以及影响感官看法和情绪方面发挥着核心作用。
The ability of opiates to alter these chemical processes accounts for why this group of drugs is so addictive.
Sedatives
镇静药物，如Xanaxand Valium work in much the same way as alcohol, increasing GABA production rates and slowing brain and central nervous system functions. Commonly prescribed to treat conditions involving anxiety symptoms, sedatives reduce the brain’s electrical activity, which in turn helps to calm feelings of anxiety.
Like alcohol, sedatives drugs are highly addictive, especially when used for longer than three months at a time.
Stimulants
Rather than slow brain chemical activities, stimulant drugs, such as cocaine andadderall.加快化学过程。兴奋剂直接作用于大脑的多巴胺产量，导致大量的多巴胺用每次使用泛滥大脑。
在大多数情况下，多巴胺在规范大脑的奖励系统方面发挥着核心作用，这些奖励系统在于不断增长的成瘾问题。兴奋剂改变多巴胺过程的能力直接鉴于为什么基于兴奋剂的药物带来高潜力的成瘾。
Hallucinogens
致幻药中的药物包括几种不同类型的药片和植物，所有这些都是改变一个人的感官感知，情感和自我和现实感。一些更常用的致幻剂包括LSD，氯胺酮和水晶甲基。
While nowhere near as addictive as the other drug types,vallucinogens.still interfere with the brain’s chemical system in drastic ways. When used on an ongoing basis, the likelihood of developing addiction increases considerably.
Who’s Most Susceptible?
某些类型的药物，如阿片类药物和酒精，具有特别高的成瘾风险，但某些危险因素往往会增加一个人的易感性，而不管药物类型如何。
According to the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, risk factors to watch for include:
- High-stress lifestyle
- 过去的虐待经历，是身体，情感或性的
- 情绪问题，如抑郁症
- 心理问题，如强迫症
- Chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes
- Growing up in a dysfunctional family
Warning Signs
Warning signs of addiction can vary from person to person depending on individual circumstances, though certain key signs tend to prevail across the board.
Loss of Interest
As drugs start to take on greater importance, a person will likely lose interest in activities and pursuits he or she once enjoyed. This loss of interest also goes for more pressing areas of daily life, such as work, personal care and important关系与朋友和家人.
Over time, the effects of addictive substances on brain functioning essentially changes a person’s psychological makeup in significant ways. Once getting and using drugs becomes the sole focus of daily living, a person’s motivations, priorities and sense of right and wrong all hinge on the need to get “high.”
Increasing Usage Levels
Ongoing substance abuse not only disrupts the brain’s chemical environment, but also damages the cells that produce neurotransmitter materials. Individual cells develop structural damage that weakens their ability to produce these chemicals. This same damage also makes cells less sensitive to the effects of the drug.
随着细胞损伤的增加，the brain requires larger amounts of the drug(or alcohol) to produce the same “high” effect. This need for larger doses will continue for as long as a person uses the drug.
身体不适
通过物质滥用带来的脑化学失衡会干扰大脑维持正常身体功能的能力。这些发展占沿途发展的身体不适或戒断效果。
Withdrawal effects play a key role in driving continued substance abuse practices as users attempt to gain relief from uncomfortable symptoms by taking more of the drug. These discomforts will grow more severe over time.
症状可以根据药物类型而有所不同，尽管一些更常见的症状包括：
- Problems sleeping
- 搅动
- Irritability
- Sweating
- 胃肠道窘迫
- 随机疼痛和痛苦
- Fatigue
Mental/Emotional Distress
Addictive substances interfere with the way the areas of the brain communicate with one another, especially the areas that regulate thinking and emotions. After a certain point, the ability to feel normal or content will hinge on maintaining needed supplies of the drug in one’s system.
As the brain’s dependence on a drug increases, users stand to experience increasing emotional distress. Symptoms of mental/emotional distress typically take the form of:
生活方式的变化
更多的than anything else, addiction changes a person’s daily patterns of behavior to where getting and using the drug takes on top priority in his or her daily life. These changes inevitably disrupt other important life areas and transforms one’s overall lifestyle in the process.
Lifestyle changes to watch for include:
- 制定工作或失业的问题
- Ongoing relationship conflicts with your significant other, family and/or friends
- Problems with the law
- Financial problems
- Decline in personal grooming and hygiene
The Need for Treatment Help
While lifestyle changes clearly indicate some form of treatment is needed, seeking out needed treatment help during the early stages of a developing addiction can spare you the pain and frustration that comes with a full-blown addiction problem. Once the early signs of substance abuse start to surface, it’s only a matter of time before the effects of addiction start to take over your life.