Why do people become addicted to things?

Answer 1

The brain has many chemicals, or neurotransmitters. "Neuro" because the brain is the central nervous system of the body, and "transmitter" because neurotransmitter carry messages from one part of the brain to another. One of these chemicals is called Dopamine.

The brain has many "offices", or areas of function. One of these "offices" is the office of "feeling good." When we do something that is good for us, as long as it is done in moderation, the brain releases Dopamine to tell us this is a behavior that feels good: it makes us feel good, or satisfied, and causes us to seek out that same substance again. In fact, this is what keeps us alive. If we didn't enjoy eating because Dopamine tells us it is an enjoyable experience, we would starve to death without intervention!! In fact, we feel the effects of Dopamine during sex, when we excercise, and when we get a good massage! As well as other things.

However, when we take a drug, say Cocaine, the coke fools the body into thinking it is dopamine, and it "binds" or attaches itself to the Dopamine. What happens in a normal situation is that you eat, you feel good, and then the dopamine stops being released and what is in the brain gets reabsorbed. You don't have feelings of euphoria for an hour, no matter how good the chocolate cake was. That is because the dopamine is long gone by then. However, when it is attached to a mind altering drug, it does not get reabsorbed into the brain. Instead, it hangs out for awhile, releasing and re-releasing feelings of pleasure for a time, whether that is 20 minutes or a few hours depends on which drug you took. That is because the drug interferes with the brain's normal mechanism for processing the dopamine.

Then, when the drug wears off, the person may want to repeat that feeling, and they will get some more of the drug. This is how addiction starts. Over a period of time, the experience will begin to be less exciting for them, and this also has to do with the amount of dopamine being released into the brain-natural dopamine in the brain is released in smaller and smaller amounts due to drug abuse. They begin to need more and more of the drug to obtain the initial high. Over time, their natural levels of dopamine have dropped so low that without the drug, they become depressed, develop nervous twitches and anxiety, feel sick and in pain, and may even be suicidal. This is when it becomes addictive: when they absolutely need the drug to re-create even normal levels of dopamine in the brain, and more than that to feel high.

Answer 2

Like any other addiction, it's what's going on in the brain that is important. The excitement of gambling and the thrill of both winning and the anticipation of winning cause the release of brain chemicals that are similar to opiates. Over time, gamblers become used to the high levels of pleasure chemicals, requiring more. Apart from using drugs, the only way to get them is more frequent gambling experiences.

Most addicted gamblers are addicted in other ways: smoking is one of the most common, along with alcohol and sometimes stimulant drugs.