Why Do We Get Addicted?

Drugs, Alcohol, adult entertainment, gambling, it seems like the number of problems that someone can get addicted too multiplies every single day. But why do we get addicted in the first place? How does ‘just one drink’ or ‘just one smoke’ multiply into a slippery slope that’s hard to crawl out of? 

Well, it all has to do with the brain. Addiction is a sickness, and it fundamentally rewires the brain and the receptors that give the brain pleasure. Getting off of addiction requires the brain to change back to what it was before, and that’s where all the withdrawal problems start.

Hijacking Happiness

Our body gets rewarded when we do something pleasurable by two chemicals, dopamine, and serotonin. These chemicals work together to tell your brain that ‘what you just did was pleasurable, and you should do more of it!’ Whether that’s eating a sweet treat, doing an enjoyable activity, or yes, indulging in an addiction.

Addictions are easy, and unlike achieving a goal or focusing on an activity, addictions are easy to indulge. That effortlessness, combined with an unnatural surge of dopamine into the brain, hooks you. Unfortunately, the happiness you get from a cigarette or a drink of beer is unnatural, and nothing else compares to it.

Needing More and More

Soon those normal pleasures won’t cut it anymore and you need more of whatever you were addicted too. Since your brain has been rewired to expect more and more dopamine, cravings increase and you almost compulsively seek out more of your addiction substance. Just to feel normal.

Whenever you decide to kick the addiction, you are essentially starving your dopamine hungry brain, and the brain doesn’t like things changing. So that’s why the road to recovery can be a rough one since you are trying to repair your brain.

Fear Not, You Can Change

Thankfully, changes to your brain got you into addiction, and brain changes can get you out of it. Soon your pleasure receptors will be back to normal and you’ll be able to find pleasure in the little things again. It almost feels like you get a second chance at life, and you’ll appreciate your healed brain all the more.

Just remember, addiction is a disease, a sickness that most people have to deal with in their lives. But they beat it with a lot of hard work, and so can you!