...Addiction Addiction is a physical, psychological and physiological state that is as a result of dependence on substances that are psychoactive. These substances are known to cross the barrier between blood and brain when they are taken into the body either through smoking, drinking, injection or any other means that may cause their entry into the body. These substances work by altering the normal functioning of the brain and results in what is often called 'getting high' (Heyman, 2009). The addiction develops when an individual cannot stay for prolonged periods of time without relying on the psychoactive substance that they are addicted to. An addiction may also include habits or behavior patterns that with time become ingrained in our day to day lives and which an individual eventually finds out that they cannot live without indulging in their particular habit or behavior. Though the involvement in the activity or substance is initially a means to seek bliss and enjoyment, after a while, the individual will need to engage in the substance or activity to feel that he or she is normal. Experts in psychology have identified addiction in many forms, but all of them highlight the unusual psycho-dependency on substances and activities. These include; gambling, eating, sex and/or pornography, the internet, work, watching TV, shopping and many more. The main forms of addiction discussed widely though involve excessive drinking, excessive gambling, drug use, eating and sexuality (Orford...
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...society view addiction as a disease? Drug addiction is a significant problem in today’s society yet it also seems to be debatable as to whether society should view drug addiction as a disease or choice. Drug addiction continues to grow and affects a diverse population which includes much younger age groups. It must be noted that drug addiction is a voluntary choice; whereas disease is not, despite whether a disease is deemed mental and/or physical in nature. Frankly, whether society views addiction as a disease or choice, it is a problem and a controversial issue. The definition of drug addiction, according the Merriam-Webster’s dictionary is: “the quality or state of being addicted <addiction to reading>, compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal; broadly: persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful.”(“Addiction” n.d.) Numerous government and other science researchers continue to study drug addiction while addressing whether addiction is a choice or a disease. There is significantly more information that states addiction is a choice. Drug addiction may be the underlying cause of a disease. However, despite whether addiction may result in disease, addiction is a choice and it is a subject of major study and may reflect how addiction is viewed. “Scientifically, the contention that addiction is a disease...
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...Webster defines addiction as a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal; broadly: persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful. And one of the most menacing addictions to ruin the lives of countless people would have to be drug addiction. But is it really a disease? Addiction in my opinion is not a disease, but a choice in lifestyle. If drugs and even alcohol were to be called a disease than we must completely redefine the term “disease”. In a true disease, some part of the body is in a state of abnormal functioning, and this causes the undesirable symptoms. Like cancer for instance, it is caused by mutated cells which we point to as evidence of an abnormality. The theory of drugs being a disease is simply to soften the blow of being a drug addict or alcoholic, also the person would have no control whatsoever. Many feel that the calling drug addiction a disease weakens the drug addict and almost allows him to feel pity for himself, pity that would leads the addict to justify his addition. According to Gene Heyman, a lecturer in psychology at the Harvard Medical School addiction is not an involuntary disease but is created by personal choices. Heyman looked at different factors that can influence an addict to stop using, and pointed out there are thousands of ex-addicts who have beat their addiction. We should all...
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...The Disease of Drug Addiction Joanne Frye HSER 340 Abstract Addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive seeking and use of addictive substances despite harmful consequences to the addicted individual and to those around him or her. Introduction Dramatic advances in science over the past 20 years have shown that drug addiction is a chronic relapsing disease that results from the prolonged effects of drugs on the brain. (Leshner, 1997) It is considered a brain disease because drugs change the brain structure and how the brain works. (Volkow and Schelbert, 2007) As with many other brain diseases, addiction has embedded behavioral and social-context aspects that are important parts of the disorder itself. Therefore, the most effective treatment approaches will include biological, behavioral, and social-context components. Recognizing addiction as a chronic, relapsing brain disorder characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use can impact society’s overall health and social policy strategies and help diminish the health and social costs associated with drug abuse and addiction (Leshner, 1997). Addiction as a Disease For decades, the orthodox view in neuroscience and psychiatry has been that addiction is a psychiatric disease (Jellinek, 1960). In 1968 it was included in the second revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, positioning it explicitly as a mental illness for the purpose diagnosis and treatment...
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...DRUG ADDICTION ERIN GETZ LYNN FUTRAL PSYCHOLOGY 1101 28 NOVEMBER 2014 Drug Addiction Most of us know of someone who has struggled with addiction. About 15 percent of the American population is addicted to alcohol or drugs or a combination of the two (Chapter 1: What is Addiction?). Drug addiction can tear families apart by changing the people we know into someone who lies, cheats, and steals to get their next fix. Drug addiction is a serious psychological and physical illness that has many factors such as social environment, home life/family history, physical and mental problems, and withdrawals; there are also a few ways to recover from drug addiction including Narcotics Anonymous, medical treatments, and therapy. But first, what is drug addiction? The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) website defines drug abuse as “a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use despite harmful consequences to the addicted individual and to those around him or her.” The most common drugs hardest to give up are cocaine, heroin, marijuana, alcohol, amphetamines (Interlandi and Kelley). Almost 22 million Americans are hooked on at least one of these drugs. Drug addictions don’t normally happen overnight, it is a process that happens over time. Usually a drug is taken for the first time in a social situation, with the person not realizing the consequences that could follow. The person enjoys that temporary high and begins to...
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...Introduction It is undeniable that the computer has become an essential gadget for daily lives of every human being. The Internet is an absolute necessity for both adults and children. It is impossible to believe to do anything without the Internet, especially from the youth’s perspective. Youths today spend too much time on the computer, surfing the Internet for hours. Some have become much too addicted and don’t realize that they actually suffer from Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD). Let’s have a look at how computers directly have effects upon youths nowadays. One of the main consequences of spending too much time on the computer that youths are likely to disregard is personal neglect. When one is too obsessed with surfing the Internet, they tend to pay no attention to their standard of living apart from the computer which they are using. Some may not take bath, clean their room, or eat well as they are much too focused on what they are doing virtually. Because of the long hours spent engaged with a computer, youths often have eating irregularities, such as skipping meals or overeating. This indirectly leads to health disorders, for instance, malnutrition of the youth’s body. Isolation, avoidance and no family bonding at all is another outcome which happens in a youth’s life when they get excessively addicted with the Internet. Because of spending too much time on the computer, youths have a propensity to reduce socializing with others. They tend to feel that computer...
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...Welcome to WritePoint, the automated review system that recognizes errors most commonly made by university students in academic essays. The system embeds comments into your paper and suggests possible changes in grammar and style. Please evaluate each comment carefully to ensure that the suggested change is appropriate for your paper, but remember that your instructor's preferences for style and format prevail. You will also need to review your own citations and references since WritePoint capability in this area is limited. Thank you for using WritePoint. Technology has revolution the way we engage in the world today. Internet popularity and explosion of social networking sites have drastically alter people’s social interactions. At any given time, millions of people are engaged in texting, sending e-mails, surfing the web, social networking, or watching video in front of computer screens technology addicts’ nightmare, 2011. There is growing alienation between individuals, between families, and between humankind and nature. This is especially worse in children, who are [Writing suggestion: rewrite the sentence to remove "who are"] highly impressionable and still developing their social skills. From a young age, children are constantly exposed to technology in the form of animated shows in television, interactive computer software and cell phones (Brunt field, 2010). There is no more quiet time to simple relaxed and...
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...Addiction is one of the things that undermines traditional values. It puts the person’s health at risk and alters his behaviour dramatically. One of the most underestimated addiction in today’s society is online gaming. Online gaming addiction is the excessive use of computer and video games that interferes with so called normal life (Chan, 2006). Although taking risks and experimenting with a variety of activities is considered normal, those who are at high risk of being dependent of this addiction are more prone to engage in sensation-seeking behaviours (Mehroof and Griffiths, 2010). The transtheoretical model of behaviour change outlines the person’s precontemplation and contemplation stage of having this type of addiction. When a person is in the precontemplation, the first stage of the transtheoretical model of behaviour change, he does not consider his behaviour to be a problem. This is because he has not yet experience any negative consequence of his behaviour or it is a result of denial about the impacts of the behaviour. Segana et al. (2006) suggested that a person on this stage is often not interested in hearing about the negative consequences or advice to quit his addiction. The person usually considers his addictive behaviour as a pleasant experience at this point. An addict of online gaming at precontemplation stage is often in denial of his behaviour. He ignores comments from family and friends and spends more time on the computer to hide emotional loneliness...
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...Prescribed Into Addiction Our family will always wonder if a holistic approach to his back pain could have saved my brother from being a statistic of the opiate overdose epidemic. My brother, Jeremy, was one of over 125,000 people who have lost their life since 2000, to the epidemic of opiate overdoses. There are dozens of safe alternative treatments for chronic back pain that do not involve taking medication or having an operation. We will struggle the rest of our lives wondering if tried holistic treatment if he would still be with us. Jeremy broke his back skateboarding, when he was in 11th grade, which was the first time doctors prescribed painkillers. At that time, we were unaware of how dangerous prescription painkillers can be and how easy it is to become addicted. An alternative could be physical therapy, chiropractic treatment or medical massage. These treatments can be just as effective. Jeremy was a dare-devil, who never was afraid of any physical challenges whether it was skateboarding, snowboarding or many other sports. These sports lead to a lot of injuries and more painkillers. He was a Union Carpenter, which is hard physical labor, and it added to his pain. His biggest motto was no matter what you do to work. No matter the pain that he was in, he would go to work. Physical therapist should teach exercises to make his back stronger, than he would suffer less and not become addicted to painkillers. By the time he was 25, he was in a lot of physical pain, especially...
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...Compulsive Shopping And Its Negative Effects In today’s scenario more than 1 in every 30 adults suffer from compulsive shopping, it can be described as the human mentality of compulsive consumption, whether or not it is crucial for their needs or not. It is also stated as a mental disorder, referred to as oniomania, buying mania, compulsive consumption, compulsive shopping and addictive or impulsive buying. Marketers have always emphasized on how to encourage this consumption pattern among all consumers. A recent search has shown that in the area of disease theories, a model that is dominant metaphor used to increase both the drug addiction and alcoholism in many treatment program such as Alcoholics Anonymous. Within the market three characteristics have showed the common symptom of compulsive shopping that includes the presence of a drive, impulse, or urge to engage in the behavior, denial of the harmful consequences of engaging in the behavior and repeated failure in attempts to control or alter the behavior. The primary criterion to determine whether buying behavior is innocuous or potentially compulsive buying is whether or not such behavior is causing disruption in the normal life of the individual. One aspect of looking this is that it is an impact of marketer who is putting up such deals that their urge to buying the products is increasing. This can be explained by taking an example, a company is offering an exchange offer on a product and the extra payment has to...
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...Exercise Addiction Exercise has become a trend! People are now exercising more than ever before, whether it’s on a sports team or activities such as running, badminton, and biking. Not only is exercise fun, but it has many benefits including, weight control, increase endurance and improved moods. Furthermore, exercise also reduces the risk of serious diseases. Although exercise itself isn’t difficult, the commitment to do it continuously can be, and this consistency is the only way to see the true benefits of exercise. Exercise programs are often started with good intentions, but quickly fail because of overtraining. People often misunderstand what moderate exercise is, and they think that by exercising at extreme limits, they will reach their fitness goals faster. Overtraining actually has the reverse effect, either creating a serious addiction to exercise, and potentially leading people to the point of injury. There are many reasons why people become addicted to exercise. The primary reasons are physical appearance; and to reach optimum health. The addiction to reach these goals motivates the need to over train, and ignore the longer term benefits of moderation. Another reason for exercise addiction is because the addiction itself is a fad, or a social trend. For example, people might want to be like a famous celebrity who keeps a beautiful shape for films. Similar to extreme diets, extreme exercise can also be seen as excessive behavior and can potentially cause...
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...Are You a Shopaholic? 3 Steps To Fixing Your Addiction 1 Posted June 26, 2012 by Danica Saarah Nelson in Advice “The first step to recovering is admitting you have a problem,” is a cliché we hear all the time. But do you see overspending on constant shopping trips as a crucial life issue that’s nearly as harmful as drugs or alcohol? It can be! Spending your disposable income on unnecessary items (especially when they’re charged to your credit card) is a surefire way to an unsuccessful and unhappy future. Below are the first three steps you can take to curing your illness. Step 1 – Remove Yourself From ALL Mailing Lists It’s hard, but it’s the easiest way to avoid succumbing to the temptations of spending money on something you wouldn’t have otherwise if you weren’t victim to that specific e-mail. If you REALLY want to get exclusive information on a sale or get your hands on a coupon code, a simple Google Search will do the trick. Removing yourself from every mailing list you’ve subscribed to is your first step towards curing your spending habits! Step 2 – Ditch the Plastic. Adopt the Paper! This one is pretty simple. All you have to do is take your Credit and Debit Cards out of your wallet. People essentially spend less when they’re using cash because they can see for themselves how quickly it can decrease as opposed to when you’re using plastic, you just swipe and go. Ever change your mind about purchasing something because you don’t want to break your $20? Then...
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...Addiction choice or disease This essay will look to outline the different arguments in that; addiction to a substance is a choice of one’s free will, or is it a disease element in our bio chemical or physical make up? It will consider, if addiction extends from genes inherited from parents or forefathers, or if it is a learned behaviour through day to day lifestyles, and changes through growth from tots to teens, to youths, then to adults. It will also seek to analyse how different approaches and points in this relevant argument can be debated in the academic and medical world, with the views and discussion of recognised professionals in the study of addiction. The definition of addiction ad-dic-tion (noun) is ‘the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physical habit forming to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma (Dictonary .com, 2012) One valid stance is that addiction is a chemical imbalance in Deoxyribonucleic Acid (D.N.A) (Wachuku, 2003, p. 199); any toxin or chemical artificially entered into the bloodstream may have a more serious effect on certain human beings than others. It could be argued that some are able to tolerate these toxins or chemicals without becoming addicted, whilst others quite easily fall into addiction, whether it is to alcohol, prescribed drugs, illegal solvents, stimulants, hallucinogenic or anti-depressants. Dr Robert West Professor of Health Psychology University College London...
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...Chapter II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES I. Introduction Facebook is the most popular social networking site in several English-speaking countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. And it was launched in February 2004 that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Facebook is a popular free social networking website that allows registered users to create profiles, upload photos and video, send messages and keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues. As of July 2010 Facebook has more than 500 million active users. Users may create a personal profile, add other users as friends and exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their profile. Additionally, users may join common interest user groups, organized by workplace, school, or college, or other characteristics. The name of the service stems from the colloquial name for the book given to students at the start f the academic year by university administrations in the US with the intention of helping students to get to know each other better. Facebook allows anyone who declares them to be at least 13 years old to become a registered user of the website. Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow computer science students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes. The website's membership was initially limited by the founders to Harvard students, but was expanded to...
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...INTERNET ADDICTION: USE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES AND ITS IMPACT ON INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS Abstract: Widespread use of internet has led to a kind of addiction. The present study examined the use of Internet and getting addicted to the social networking sites and on the whole its impact on intermediate level students. The sample comprised of 285 students out of which the addicts were pulled out. The tools used were questionnaire developed by Dr. Kimberly Young, the IAT which is a 20-item questionnaire that measures mild, moderate, and severe levels of Internet Addiction with its sociological impact. An additional questionnaire drafted at International Development Research Centre (IDRC) was used to gauge the behavioural, psychological and physical impact of internet on Intermediate students. And finally a questionnaire was coined in the assistance of Miss Sunanda Jati, lecturer, Dau Dayal Girls P.G. College to check the indulgence of intermediate students on social networking sites. The researcher used dichotomous questions. It was found that the students have positive tendency towards the useful and easy reflections of internet and a greater tendency towards getting addicted. The advent of computer brought about a major revolution in the history of human culture; a major debate broke through whole world whether this machine could replace human beings and become our master. Eminent scholars, learned people, high profile politicians and almost every literate being were voicing...
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