Addiction and the Brain | Psychologist talks

"Imagine your brain as a well-organized garden. Addiction is like an unruly weed that sneaks in and takes over. This weed, often triggered by drugs, messes with your brain's natural system. Normally, you have the power to make choices, but addiction changes that. It's as if the weed is pruning away your ability to decide freely. What begins as a choice slowly turns into a kind of mental lockdown. Quitting becomes a tough challenge, even if you really want to break free."

Substances of abuse, like drugs, have a direct impact on the brain's reward center, leading to a quick and intense release of dopamine, the feel-good neurotransmitter. Addiction can be seen as a quick and easy path to reward, but it comes at a high cost to both physical and mental health over time. The intense pleasure from this shortcut can be so compelling that it encourages repeated use. Unfortunately, this pleasure-seeking response weakens the brain's decision-making center in the prefrontal cortex by creating connections to other areas of the brain.

To overcome addiction, it's not just about quitting the substance. It involves finding or rediscovering activities and goals that bring natural and gradual rewards. These pursuits require effort, but they contribute to personal growth in various aspects of one's personality and overall well-being.

Role of Brain in Addiction

The brain takes center stage in addiction, much like it does in all human behaviors.

• The initial decision to try a drug originates in the executive part of the brain, known as the prefrontal cortex.

• Once the drug is taken, it triggers a strong response in the nucleus accumbens, a group of nerve cells below the cerebral cortex.

• This response is rapid and involves the release of a large amount of dopamine, often referred to as "the pleasure molecule." However, it's more accurately described as a chemical that drives motivation, focusing attention and pushing individuals to pursue specific goals.

The pleasurable sensation orchestrated by dopamine likely evolved to encourage the repetition of behaviors essential for individual and species survival, such as eating, social interaction, and reproduction.

Drugs of abuse, with their potent stimulation of the brain, strongly promote repetition.

In essence, addiction can be seen as a kind of hacking of the brain by drugs—a shortcut to creating a direct path to feeling good.

How does Addiction work in Brain?

Using a drug repeatedly can change how the brain is wired.

It activates a part called the nucleus accumbens, and too much activity in this area weakens its connection to the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for decision-making.

This leads to problems with:

• judgment

• decision-making

• controlling impulses

Research in neuroscience shows that addiction is like a strong and quickly established habit.

It changes the brain's wiring rapidly, mainly because of the influence of dopamine, a chemical in the brain. With the help of dopamine, the brain gets really good at wanting the drug. It becomes focused on anything related to the drug and removes connections that respond to other things.

This biological change in decision-making areas helps explain why people addicted to drugs keep using them even when they know it's causing problems or when there are potential benefits to quitting.

Resetting the Brain

Addiction is an acquired behavior that encompasses various crucial regions of the brain and alterations to the neural pathways linking them.

The involvement of the neurotransmitter dopamine plays a pivotal role, leading the brain to develop a heightened efficiency in desiring the effects of a drug, ultimately resulting in a state of persistent craving.

Despite this, the brain's inherent capacity to adapt to new circumstances maintains a potential avenue for recovery.

Frequently Asked Questions

What part of the brain is responsible for addiction?

There are several parts of the brain involved in addiction. They are:

• the nucleus accumbens, a cluster of cells below the cortex in the basal forebrain that produces the urge to pursue a goal. Sometimes called the “pleasure center” of the brain, it is a key player in the reward circuitry of the brain and releases dopamine in response to positive experiences and the anticipation of such experiences.

• dopamine neurons, which are concentrated in the nucleus accumbent and form pathways of connection to other parts of the brain when activated by positive experiences.

• the prefrontal cortex, which is the seat of such executive functions as judgment, decision-making, impulse control; it gradually weakens in response to overactivation of the reward circuits by drugs of abuse.

• the amygdala, which registers emotional significance of perceptions, is highly responsive to drug-related cues and sets in motion the rise and fall of craving.

• the hippocampus, seat of memory; under the influence of dopamine, the memory of an expected reward results in overactivation of the reward and motivation circuits and decreased activity in the cognitive control centers of the prefrontal cortex.

Which brain chemical is associated with addiction?

The brain chemical that plays a starring role in addiction is the neurotransmitter dopamine. Addictive drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and many others—and eventually, just the anticipation of consuming those agents—cause a flood of dopamine to be released in the nucleus accumbens of the brain, creating an intensely pleasurable sensation. That pleasurable reward reinforces the behavior, motivating the user to seek the experience again and again. Dopamine is released in response to sex, accomplishment, winning, and other positive experiences, creating the sensation of reward and motivating the desire for repetition of the experience, but the dopamine response to drugs like heroin and cocaine is especially fast and intense.

The neurotransmitter glutamate is also involved in addiction. Widely distributed in the brain, its general role is to activate the firing of neurons; it’s called an excitatory neurotransmitter. Glutamate helps mediate the rewarding effects of drugs of abuse and speeds the hard-wiring of substance response into the brain

How does addiction hijack the brain?

The very fast and very intense flood of dopamine generated by taking a drug of abuse motivates repetition of the drug-taking. Under the influence of dopamine, that repetition changes the wiring of the brain in ways to increase the wanting and decrease the ability to regulate drug usage. What starts as a choice becomes so deeply wired into the brain that the machinery of desire operates automatically, and the machinery of attention narrows focus to the drug and getting it. The brain loses the capacity to respond to other potentially rewarding activities. The desire for reward ultimately becomes a prison from which it is difficult—but not impossible—to escape.

What is neuroplasticity and what role does it play in addiction?

Neuroplasticity is the brain’s natural ability to change its wiring patterns in response to life experience. When stimulated, nerve cells generate new tendrils of connection to other nerve cells, called synapses. All learning hinges on the brain’s capacity to form new nerve cell connections, and mental and behavioral flexibility is the hallmark of that capacity.

While neuroplasticity is the great liberator of the mind, allows people to learn languages and remember birthdays, and fuels the imagination, it has a dark side. The same process rewires the brain in response to using drugs of abuse—but, under the influence of the unnaturally fast and large flood of dopamine released, the rewiring strengthens the desire for the drug, weakens judgment and control, and prunes away the capacity to be interested in other, more natural rewards. The capacity for neuroplasticity, however, also enables the brain to rewire itself more normally once drug usage is stopped.

If you or someone you know is dealing with addiction, reaching out for support can make all the difference. At Koott, our dedicated Malayali psychologists are here to guide you through online counseling sessions, helping you regain control and find balance. Don’t wait—take the first step towards a healthier mind today!