Understanding the addict

For many years now, scientists and researchers have tried to find a pattern in the elusive details of addiction and the psychology of addicts. The question that they are trying to answer is why some people get hooked on to certain substances while the others don’t. What factors, external or internal, influence this? They have been trying to get inside the brains of the addicts to understand what they feel, what keeps driving them towards certain substances and what keeps them from being able to quit. As some of these questions are getting answered, there are several aspects of addiction that still escape them.

There are several external and internal factors that affect the psychology of an addict. External factors are the factors associated with the environment both in homes and outside especially during the subjects’ formative years. For several street children in the developing world, substance abuse is an escape from the pangs of hunger. Lack of means to support one’s self, being exposed to an environment of users, ease of access to these substances are some external factors that encourage addiction. At home, parents must be able to balance discipline and freedom. An excess of either extreme can have a negative impact on the child’s psychology. Personal experiences such as witnessing violence or death may also have an adverse effect.

Internal factors have to do with the personality of the subject. For example, researchers seem to think that people who are hyperactive as children would develop a negative personality unless guided well. They attribute to the characteristic of being impulsive in nature. A very important internal factor is what the subject feels about himself or herself. If this image is negative, the subject may either become outright rebellious or, on the other extreme, become reclusive and withdrawn from society. Ignorance on the subjects’ part about the ill effects of drug abuse also contributes to aiding addiction. This makes it important to ensure that information on addiction is easily accessible to people of all ages.

There are several factors that keep an addict from seeking help and trying to quit. The drug affects the reward mechanism of the brain. The addicts always feel that they are different from other people and that the rules that apply to everyone don’t necessarily apply to them. They always have an excuse for doing what they do and exploit any reason that presents itself to the mind. Some addicts realize their wrong doing. But the embarrassment of admitting it and seeking help keeps them from doing it. While some others are just plain ignorant about the downsides of addiction and don’t know where to look for information on addiction treatment.