Psychology Evaluate addiction in terms of brain dysfunction Essay

Psychology Evaluate addiction in terms of brain dysfunction - Essay Example In fact it does not require the individual to feel positive pleasure from the behaviour (West, 2006). There are two types of forces that forces that enhances purposeful behaviour in human beings: inhibitory forces and impulses. Each of these forces is balanced, checked and regulated by tasks of planning and evaluation. The behavioural plans that human beings propose for themselves, and the evaluation they make of their behaviour help to give identity and purpose (Baxter & Hinson, 2001). For instance if a man recognizes himself as addicted to smoking, but evaluate the smoking behaviour as a risk to mental functioning, then he will be able to formulate a plan that would displace the behaviour. Theory of addiction is viewed as chronic brain disorder that can be managed with all the tools at medicine's disposal. The addict's brain is claimed to be malfunctioning, just like the pancreas of someone with diabetes. The major distributing factor is the behaviour and lifestyle choices (Eugene & Heather, 2003). Genetics have found that there are gene variants that predispose people to addiction that explains why some people who tries addiction becomes hooked on it. The laboratories that are operated and funded by PET and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) are forcing the addicted brain to yield up its secrets. According to West (2006), Neuroscientists are mapping the intricate network of feedback loops and triggers that are set in motion by the taste, sight or thought of a beer or a cigarette. They have learned to identified a signal that an alcoholic is about to pour a drink, and trace the impulse back to its origin in the primitive midbrain. Among the numerous compounds tested by NIDA are compounds that block the intoxicating effects of drugs. They include vaccines that train the body's own immune system to bar them from the brain Addiction as Brain dysfunction Addictive drugs like heroine and cocaine flood the brain with the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is a chemical that induces a sensation of pleasure and trains the subconscious mind to remember everything that proceed that sensation. Alcohol, amphetamines and nicotine, together with cocaine and heroine are considered the hardest drugs to give up (West, 2006). Drugs are substances that tap into brain's operation system and disrupt the way nerve cells normally send, receive and process information. Drugs can disrupt the brain's operation in two ways: can imitate the brain's natural chemical messengers and over-stimulate the reward circuit of the brain. Most drugs fool the brain's receptors and activate the nerve cells to send abnormal messages (Bannon et al, 2002). Nearly all drugs target the brain's reward system; they do this by flooding the circuit with dopamine. With continued drug abuse, the brain adapts the overwhelming surges in dopamine by reducing the number of dopamine receptors in the reward circuit; this will lessened the impact on the reward circuit, hence reducing the users ability to enjoy the drugs and things that earlier brought pleasure (West, 2006). According to Bannon et al (2002), long term abuse causes changes in other brain systems and circuit as well as facilitating non-conscious learning, which makes the learner to experience uncontrollable carvings whenever they see a person or place that is associated with the drug experience. Research indicates that drug-addicted individuals are show changes in regions of the brain that