Summary: <p>Happiness Isn-t Brain Surgery:<br> Understanding Addiction<br> Presented by: Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes<br> Executive Director, AllCEUs</p> <p>Continuing Education (CE) credits for addiction and mental health counselors, social workers and marriage and family therapists can be earned for this presentation at<br> <a href="https://www.allceus.com/member/cart?c=3">https://www.allceus.com/member/cart?c=3</a></p> <p>Objectives<br> – Learn about addiction<br> – Prevalence<br> – Cause<br> – Functions of addiction<br> – Develop an understanding of how addictive behavior regardless of the origin often ends up being a form of self-medication<br> – Explore different approaches to addressing addiction<br> Addiction Prevalence<br> – Alcoholism<br> – 16.3 million adults ages 18 and older(6.8 percent of this age group) had an AUD in 2014 http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/AlcoholFacts&Stats/AlcoholFacts&Stats.pdf<br> – Drug Addiction<br> – In 2013, an estimated 24.6 million Americans-9.4 percent of the population-had used an illicit drug in the past month https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/nationwide-trends<br> – All Addictive behaviors<br> – About 47% of the U.S. adult population suffers from an addictive behavior-with serious negative consequences-in a 12-month period. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3134413/</p> <p>Addiction Definition<br> – General<br> – Use of a pleasurable activity or substance<br> – To escape emotional or physical pain<br> – That continues to be used despite causing problems in one or more area of life<br> – Other<br> – Tolerance -Needing more of the substance or activity or combining substances or activities to get relief.<br> – Withdrawal<br> – Physical<br> – Psychological<br> Causes of Addiction<br> – Neurochemical imbalance from-<br> – Excessive recreational use of a substance or activity (Party pooper)<br> – Use of a substance or activity to eliminate feelings of depression, anxiety, stress, anger or pain (open wound theory)<br> – Leads to-<br> – Unsuccessful efforts to cut down or quit<br> – Spending more time and/or money thinking about, engaging in or recovering from use<br> – Neglect of important areas of functioning<br> – Leads to-depression/anxiety/anger –>more use to escape<br> A Note About Cravings and Triggers<br> – Cravings are persistent thoughts or desires for a rewarding behavior.<br> – Cravings are for one of 2 reasons:<br> – To produce pleasure (chocolate)<br> – To eliminate pain (physical or emotional)<br> – Triggers remind you of the addiction and kick off a craving:<br> – People<br> – Places<br> – Things<br> – Emotions<br> – Memories<br> – Habits</p> <p>Functions of Addiction<br> – Produce feelings of pleasure, euphoria, happiness when none exist (by altering brain chemicals).<br> – Numb emotional or physical pain when nothing else works (by altering brain chemicals).<br> – Help the person survive when they cannot tolerate the pain and feel overwhelmed, hopeless and helpless.<br> Self Medication Hypothesis<br> – Develop an understanding of how addictive behavior regardless of the origin often ends up being a form of self-medication.<br> – 3 consequences of excessive engagement in pleasurable activities:<br> – The brain -uses- the neurotransmitters faster than they can be made.<br> – The brain shuts down the receptors to conserve the neurotransmitters and prevent the body from being overstimulated (Think: Movie Theater)<br> – An imbalance is created between the neurotransmitters leading to an inability to feel pleasure without external stimulation<br> Examp</p>
