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Drug Addiction Disease
from:Drug addiction is a disease. There’s no doubt about that. In fact experts say that drug addiction is more of a brain disease than anything else. Scientific advances have offered amazing insights into how the brain works and what drugs do to the way the brain functions. Luckily, however, this disease is treatable and curable.
Although drug use initially is voluntary once an addiction develops, that control is markedly changed. Imaging studies have shown specific abnormalities in the brains of some, but not all, addicted individuals. While scientific advancements in the understanding of addiction have occurred at unprecedented speed in recent years, unanswered questions remain that highlight the need for further research to better define the neurobiological processes involved in addiction.
Recent studies have increased our knowledge of how drugs affect gene expression and brain circuitry, and how these factors affect human behavior. They have shed new light on the relationship between drug abuse and mental illness, and the roles played by heredity, age, and other factors in increased vulnerability to addiction. New knowledge from future research will guide new strategies and change the way clinicians approach the prevention and treatment of addiction.
When we approach drug addiction as a disease instead of as a choice, the treatment options are greatly increased. We can research what areas of the brain are affected and find the best methods to address that affliction specifically. Doctors treat cancer, diabetes, and other disease like this, drug addiction should be no different.
Viewing drug addiction as a disease can also help researchers delve further into genetic propensity to drug use and addiction. That means we will know whether or not drug and alcohol use is linked to our family history and will be able to tackle the problem before it actually becomes a problem.
There are medications available to treat withdrawal symptoms when a person stops using drugs, but when drug addiction is researched as a disease, scientists will be able to come up with new medications that could actually prevent drug use from becoming an addiction. Similar to medications that make alcoholics sick when they drink.
There are all sorts of diseases in the world. There’s no doubt about it that drug addiction is one of them. We need to start looking at it in that way and then taking the appropriate steps to treat drug addiction just as we would another disease like cancer or Alzheimer’s.
Mental Health And Substance Abuse Specific links
Mental Health And Substance Abuse News
Report faults state's youth prisons on mental health care
Illinois' juvenile prisons are not adequately screening and treating mentally ill youths, in large part because the facilities are underfunded and poorly staffed, while their mental health workers are not always trained in up-to-date methods, according to a report released today. The report, in many ways, echoed what the outgoing director of the Department of Juvenile Justice , Kurt Friedenauer ...
Read more...Kimberly Williams: Include Mental Health in an Age-Friendly New York
The World Health Organization has included New York City in its global network of age-friendly cities. The WHO's guide is a starting point -- and a crucial element that should be added is mental health.
Read more...Health Highlights: July 29, 2010
Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
Read more...Hospital shifts outpatient service
NORTHAMPTON - Following a trend that has seen other hospitals sever their connections with outpatient mental health and substance abuse programs, Cooley Dickinson Hospital is turning over its behavioral health services to a nonprofit provider.
Read more...DHH again asks BP for mental health money
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Louisiana again asks BP PLC for money to provide mental health services to Louisiana residents affected by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
Read more...Pentagon Report Places Blame for Suicides
WASHINGTON -- At a time of record-high military suicides, commanders are ignoring the mental health problems of American soldiers and not winnowing out enough of those with records of substance abuse and crime, a United States Army report has concluded.
Read more...Free mental health counseling for disaster survivors
Ticket to Hope, a program offering free mental health counseling for survivors of the 2008 floods, tornadoes and storms has been extended through September.
Read more...As military suicides rise, report faults Army brass
WASHINGTON At a time of record-high military suicides, commanders are ignoring the mental health problems of U.S. soldiers and not winnowing out enough of those with records of substance abuse and crime, a U.S. Army report has concluded.
Read more...New mental health initiative focused on Native youth
WASHINGTON, D.C. A new mental health initiative from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is aiming at a high incidence of serious mental health problems in Indian country, officials said.
Read more...Few with mental health problems seek help from professionals
Joanna Lin Nearly 5 million California adults say they need help for a mental or emotional health problem, and more than 1 million Californians report symptoms associated with serious psychological distress, according to a study released yesterday by researchers at UCLA. Yet of those people, only one in three reported visiting a mental health professional for treatment, revealing potential ...
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