What is addiction?
Addiction is defined as a chronic, relapsing disorder characterized by compulsive drug seeking, continued use despite harmful consequences, and long-lasting changes in the brain. It is considered both a complex brain disorder and a mental illness. Addiction impacts the brain on many levels. Once a chemical enters the brain, it can cause people to lose control of their impulses or involuntarily crave a harmful substance. When someone develops an addiction, the brain craves the reward of the substance. This is due to the intense stimulation of the brain’s reward system. Drug addiction is not a hallmark of moral failure or lack of willpower—it’s a complex disease that deserves long-term, extensive treatment, just like any other chronic condition. Unfortunately, the disease concept of addiction is not known to the common man and also to the lakhs of affected families. The common perception is that drug addicts are either bad or mad. People who have not struggled with substance abuse may find it difficult to understand why anyone would start using. Why would someone willingly put themselves in harm’s way by taking dangerous substances? There are, in fact, many reasons why some people turn to or start abusing drugs, and unfortunately the consequences can be life-shattering. While every case is unique, there are general patterns that indicate why some people use drugs, how addiction develops, and the consequences of drug abuse.

Why Some Become Addicted
Not everyone who experiments with drugs becomes an addict. There’s no single factor that can predict whether someone will become addicted, though there are general social, biological, and environmental factors that do increase the risk.

Biology: Genes, in combination with environmental factors, account for about half of a person’s addiction vulnerability. Being male or having a mental illness can also increase a person’s risk of progressing to addiction.

Environment: Family, friends, and socio-economic status have a significant impact on a person’s likelihood of developing an addiction. Physical and sexual abuse, peer pressure, stress, and parental guidance can greatly affect the occurrence of substance abuse.

Development: Although a person can become an addict at any age, the earlier substance use begins, the more likely it will escalate to serious addiction.
Characteristics of the Disease of Addiction

Primary
Drug addiction is an illness/disease in its own right: Despite the occurrence of drug related problems or disabilities, there is continued use of the drug. This behaviour results from a pathological dependence on the drug and a loss of control over the ability to regulate the ingestion of the drug. This behaviour is highly stereotyped, repetitive and maladaptive. It is an involuntary response, which lacks the characteristic adaptive flexibility of voluntary behaviour.

No Fault
Drug addiction is a “no fault” illness: If drug addiction is an illness then the individual cannot be held personally responsible for it. The therapeutic implication of this is that assignment of personal blame or fault is untenable and unnecessary in the treatment environment.

Multi – Dimensional
Drug addiction is a “multi-dimensional” illness: This refers to the phenomenology of the condition, which is evidenced by adaptive impoverishment at all levels. The sequels associated with drug
addiction are multiple and include various physical, psychological, social and spiritual problems in addition to the continuing and ongoing pathological need to use the drug despite the loss of control phenomenon. Thus the treatment should be in all dimensions.

Incurable
Drug addiction is incurable: There is no known “cure” for this condition and if the progression of the illness is not short circuited, it leads the person to premature death or insanity which implies that the illness is terminal in nature. Since there is no known cure, the condition can be managed by a “caring” rather than a “curing” model.

Progression
Drug addiction is a progressive illness: If appropriate and necessary intervention is not done, the disease gets progressively worse.