What Causes Drug Abuse

What is common to all these pains and problems is the ABSENCE OF a better solution and an inability to resolve the original problem. Factually, what's missing was a real accessible solution to the problem in the first place.

There has long been a controversy surrounding the causes of drug abuse. Historically, it was thought that drug abuse was caused by lack of willpower, poverty, moral weakness, mental illness, genetics, family socialization, anti-social personalities, and societal problems. The truth is that all drugs affect a "reward mechanism" in the brain. Each time a person uses a drug, they feel good. This makes them want to use the drug again. The desire to feel good helps explain part of why people abuse drugs.

People abuse drugs for a number of different reasons. The most common reason why people abuse drugs is to "get high." Adolescents and preadolescents can become involved in experimentation with drugs. However, only a small percentage of people who experiment with drugs become drug abusers. The desire to get high may be from an underlying disease such as depression. It may also come from the pressures of coping with school, work, or family tensions. Getting high is a way to escape some other underlying problem.

Drugs are chemicals that have a profound impact on the neuro-chemical balance in the brain which directly affects how you feel and act. People who are suffering emotionally use drugs, not so much for the rush, but to escape from their problems. They are trying to self-medicate themselves out of loneliness, low self-esteem, unhappy relationships, or stress. This is a pattern that too often leads to drug abuse and addiction.

Recent scientific research shows that characteristics of the individual, rather than of the drug, play a dominant role in the causes of drug abuse. The social and psychological maladjustment that characterizes most frequent drug abusers precedes the first drug use. One study that tracked children from an early age to adulthood identified predictors of future serious drug use that could be identified in children's behavior as early as age seven.

Drug abuse results in changes within the user’s brain. The main chemical messenger involved in the brain's reward mechanism is dopamine. Over time, changes in the brain occur (e.g., less dopamine is produced) which lessens the pleasurable effects. This means larger amounts of the drug are needed to get the same pleasurable feeling.

Many people believe in the existence an "addictive personality” which is to blame for drug addiction. While this condition may exist, evidence shows that an "addictive personality" is a result, and not one of the causes of drug abuse. An "addictive personality" is often associated with poor self-esteem, trouble relating to people, a low tolerance for frustration, and a desire to escape reality. Many people abuse drugs following accidents, failures, breakups, losses of self respect, giving up on life goals, job problems, and the list goes on.

What is common to all these pains and problems is the ABSENCE OF a better solution and an inability to resolve the original problem. Factually, what's missing was a real accessible solution to the problem in the first place.

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