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- Addiction is not limited to certain social classes, nor to a person who fits a certain "profile."
- Addiction is a brain disease. Addicting substances change the way the brain works, especially its "reward circuits" or "pleasure pathways." These changes lead to the behaviors we recognize as the symptoms of addiction.
- It is estimated that about 3.6 million people in the U.S. are addicted to or dependent on a wide range of drugs. In addition, there are about 18.7 million alcoholics.
- The line between "substance abuse" and "addiction" can seem vague, but medical professionals have specific criteria they use to distinguish between the two. Both conditions are diagnosed by considering people's behavior. The American Psychiatric Association lists a number of behaviors it considers symptomatic of addiction, and says a person must do three or more of them within a twelve-month period to be considered "substance dependent."
- There are a variety of risk factors that make people more vulnerable to becoming addicted. These factors are both genetic and environmental. For example, at least 60 percent of alcoholics have family histories of alcoholism.
- Addiction is a chronic condition. Relapse is common among people with chronic conditions. In the case of people recovering from addiction, relapse occurs because the effects of addiction on their brains make them especially vulnerable to it.
- Treatment for addiction can be successful. It usually involves both medication and some form of psychotherapy (individual or group, including such well-known 12 Step groups as Alcoholics Anonymous).
- Effective treatments recognize that, at first, taking the addictive substance makes the person feel better than they normally do.
- Treatment should be thought of as a three-stage process. The stages are:
- Detoxification
- Rehabilitation
- Continuing care
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