At this moment, in many cities, everything is closed: schools, sports facilities, outdoor recreation areas, bars, restaurants, everything that is a social minimum. The only things that remain open are shopping malls, grocery stores, cannabis stores, liquor stores and pharmacies. In short, the only things left for a 15-25 year old who is not able to control his or her impulses is to develop an addiction.

It's very easy to become addicted to something today. Society almost makes it so that you fall into this tortuous cycle so that you can't get out of it.

What is addiction?

Addiction is a behaviour that is based on a repeated and irrepressible desire to do or consume something in spite of the motivation and efforts of the subject to get out of it. It can relate to behaviours such as compulsive gambling, video game or internet addiction, pornography, addiction to products such as alcohol, tobacco or various psychotropic drugs. The problem with this addiction syndrome is that the subject engages in risky behaviors, despite the acute awareness that he or she has a problem of abuse and loss of freedom of action, or the possibility of their occurrence.

Why does addiction exist?

Addiction exists simply because of the neural reinforcement circuit. Dopamine is the key neurotransmitter in the neural reward circuit. After a period of time, it signals the anticipation of pleasure. Finally, dopamine triggers a molecular cascade that leads to short-, medium- and long-term cellular adaptations.

How does addiction evolve?

For example, let's use Jean, a model man in society.

Jean lives a normal life. During the day, he works 50% of his time at the office, he uses 35% of his time to look after his family, 15% goes to his friends, 8% to his hobbies and sports, 2% for a small drink in the evening. Here we notice that Jean uses a voluntary behaviour towards his vice, i.e. the end result is important to know the nature of the pleasure. Pleasure is important to him for repetition.

Gradual increase in consumption.

After discovering the new Cerveza Corona with its peach and raspberry flavour, Jean cannot help but buy a case of 24 a week, so his consumption now takes up 25% of his time, which considerably reduces the time he spends on other activities. From this stage on, there will be a routine, he will associate his behaviour with pleasure. The end result is less important, because he knows the nature of pleasure. Pleasure becomes less crucial for repetition, it is the anticipation of pleasure that becomes more important. Jean may have conditioned reactions. Indeed, elements in the environment will now be able to trigger the desire to consume, for example, seeing a bottle of beer on TV, or simply entering the word drink.

Progression towards addiction

Alcohol is gradually becoming an irresistible craving that now uses 50% of its time.

Dependency

Alcohol is interpreted as a vital need and takes up 85% of Jean time. The behaviour has now become a habit. It has a very strong emotional charge, anticipation and uncertainty have become very important. Then it becomes an obsession triggered by various stimuli.

Here I used alcohol, but it could be anything else.

I understand, I'm in a bad position and I want to stop, what should I do.

Some studies show that addicts who try to reduce their consumption do not succeed in doing so over long periods of time. Other studies show that among addicts who have become abstinent, only a small proportion will be able to return to moderate use. A total cessation of the vice, at any rate momentarily, is therefore strongly advised to optimize the chances of getting out of it.

There are many ways to stop using, the best is to modify your environment accordingly. For example, if you are addicted to coke, you just have to stop buying what is left of it. If it's for video games, completely remove all games from your computer that you could play. If that's not enough, change your computer to one that won't be able to run the games, otherwise don't have any. The first step is always a step of will, if we don't have the will to change something that doesn't work, we can only blame ourselves. We have to make the sacrifice of. Sometimes, the vice is too ingrained in us, it can ask to go to a professional or even to go to rehab.

What happens when I stop

When you abstain from drug use after being conditioned to it for a while, a process called withdrawal or abstinence syndrome occurs. This occurs as a result of the withdrawal of the substance or activity and the readjustment of the nervous system to the absence of the substance.

The nature, severity, onset and duration of withdrawal vary according to the type of substance use, the doses used, the frequency and duration of use, and the biological and socio-cultural factors of the individual.

Symptoms tend to be the opposite of the effects normally produced by consumption. Withdrawal from long-acting drinks starts more slowly and is usually less intense, but is of longer duration. Conversely, withdrawal from short-acting drinks starts more quickly, is more intense, but is of shorter duration. Withdrawal symptoms can be so intense that they may cause the user to take the psychotropic drug again.

For example, taking a heroin addict gives a state of paroxysmal well-being, peace and fullness almost as intense as orgasm and lasts about 6 hours in the body. A slow withdrawal is obtained from 36 hours onwards, which can continue for 5 to 15 days depending on the level of intoxication.

Don't fall in this cycle, if you did now you know better.