The Brain and Addiction
Substance use changes the brain, creating long-lasting impairments to key regions and functions. These changes contribute to the “brain disorder” that makes drugs and alcohol so painfully hard to kick.
Social stresses like loneliness, poverty, violence, and other psychological and environmental factors also play an important role in addiction.
The structure and function of the brain are shaped by environments and behaviors, as well as by genetics, hormones, age, and other biological factors. It is the complex interactions among these factors that underlie disorders like addiction as well as the ability to recover from them.
Understanding how drug and alcohol addiction affects the brain is a big step forward in helping to end the stigma of this complex disease and encouraging people to choose treatment.
Wondering if Your Alcohol or Drug Use Is Becoming a Problem? Take The Addiction Test
Brain Changes Over Time
When drugs and alcohol change the brain’s chemistry, the brain adapts. For example, the brain will reduce the production of dopamine if a drug artificially recreates the effects of dopamine. Once the adaptation becomes the norm, the brain will want to “correct” an imbalance when the drug is no longer present by taking the drug again.
For people who have alcohol use disorder, binge drink, or have been using opioids for many years, brain changes affecting cognitive function and mood can become severe and debilitating.
Medication Assisted Treatment helps you get through withdrawal and coping with cravings. MAT can also help you change addictive thinking into non-addictive, healthy patterns.
Addiction Recovery
Research shows that a combination of medication and therapy can successfully treat substance use disorders, and for some people struggling with addiction, Medication Assisted Treatment can help sustain recovery.
“The prescribed medication operates to normalize brain chemistry, block the euphoric effects of alcohol and opioids, relieve physiological cravings, and normalize body functions without the negative effects of the misused drug.” — Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
In addition to changes in the brain’s chemical processes and physical structure, addiction recovery can help individuals develop new behaviors and routines that can help “retrain” the brain to meet the new reality.
