Mood Alteration in Addiction

When you awaken, it’s not about seeing different things life. It’s about seeing the things in your life differently. (Rhonda Hendricks)

Mood Alteration's in Addiction

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. Symptoms of bipolar disorder are severe. They are different from the normal ups and downs that everyone goes through from time to time. Bipolar disorder symptoms can result in damaged relationships, poor job or school performance, and even suicide.

Because addiction comes somewhere in between altering of moods, so people unconsciously use it as a tool to avoid facing the strong emotions in reality. Deep down, below the level of consciousness, the child inside us knows that he used to be a lot more joyous and happy and that something just isn’t right. This is because trapped hurt and unprocessed negative emotions have the tendency to re-emerge into conscious attention, so that the child can resolve the past abuse/trauma and the emotional wound can recover fully. The child, unequipped with any means, methods or guidance on how to complete past hurt, plus afraid that he will be shamed and punished for sharing his authentic experience, will have the tendency to repress the painful emotions when they re-emerge. He does not want to recall the past abuse/trauma, as he expects it will just mean more pain. So he remains stuck with it and will continually re-enact the pain, the ‘acting out’ I referred to earlier in this part. The child will seek out behaviors that will help him to sooth his pain, Bradshaw (1988) calls these mood alterations.

An addictive mood altering behavior raises how good a person feels in the short-term, while leaving the individual emotionally depleted in the long-term. But bipolar disorder can be treated, and people with this illness can lead full and productive lives. People with bipolar disorder try to control their bipolar symptoms and instead of working with a doctor to do so, they choose alcohol and other types of drugs. This often happens before a diagnosis, when people don’t know they have a mental illness and they are just managing in the best way they can.

It’s understandable that if you don’t understand you have a disease, you don’t know how to treat it and it’s certainly understandable that someone would try to quell the extreme symptoms of bipolar disorder. Even after the disease is known, though, many people with bipolar disorder choose drugs over, or in addition to, medical help. So it can be said that people try to control their extreme mood through taking drugs.

All that being said, however, it’s critical to remember that people with substance abuse and dependency issues have less successful courses of treatment and, in fact, may not experience treatment success at all until their substance issues have been dealt with. And, of course, dealing with addictions is no picnic and many people with bipolar disorder never get to the point where they are successfully free of them. Scientists are studying the possible causes of bipolar disorder. Most scientists agree that there is no single cause. Rather, many factors likely act together to produce the illness or increase risk.

Sidrah Mohsin
Clinical Psychologist
Nishan Rehab, Islamabad

Addiction and Stigma

Our early ancestors lived as hunter-gatherers and undoubtedly collected considerable information on pharmacological plants.

Ötzi, the man whose frozen body was recovered in the Alps in 1991, lived about 3300 years BC, and carried in his pouch a travel pharmacy including a polypore fungus with antibacterial and homeostatic properties. After adopting a pastoral lifestyle, humans may have observed the effects of psychoactive plants on their flocks. Tradition has it that Ethiopian priests started roasting and boiling coffee beans to stay awake through nights of prayer.

Schematically, psychoactive substances have been used

(i) in religious ceremonies by priests;

(ii) for medicinal purposes; or

(iii) massively, as staple commodities, by large segments of the population in a socially approved way.

Stigma about having an addiction has a long history. The Latin word for it was instigare and in ancient Greece, the word stizein a physical mark or tattoo was cut or burned into the skin of criminals, slaves, or traitors and this marking lead to an action as to discriminate them as blemished or morally polluted persons. Today, stigma refers to discrimination in some undesirable way. It is a sign of shame, disgrace, or disapproval, rejected by others or by even the entire community.

Stigma is one of the meanest and most difficult aspects of addiction because it makes it harder for individuals and families to deal with their problems and get the help they need. Society imposes stigma and its damage on addicts and their families because many of us still believe that addiction is a character flaw or weakness that probably can't be cured. The stigma against people with addictions is so deeply rooted that it continues even in the face of the scientific evidence that addiction is a treatable disease and even when we know people in our families and communities living wonderful lives in long-term recovery.

Addiction is a potentially lethal disorder, but that lethal affects are dramatically amplified by the social stigma attached to this disease. Stigma’s greatest enemy is knowledge. Understanding and Healing the Stigma of Addiction will help open the doorway to such knowledge. It is high time we all walk through that doorway!

By Maryam Malik

Clinical Psychologist, Nishan

Drug Abuse, Addiction, and the Brain

Many people do not understand why people become addicted to drugs or how drugs change the brain to foster compulsive drug abuse. They mistakenly view drug abuse and addiction as strictly a social problem and may characterize those who take drugs as morally weak. One very common belief is that drug abusers should be able to just stop taking drugs if they are only willing to change their behavior. We at Nishan believe this is a stereotype.

What people often underestimate is the complexity of drug addiction — that it is a disease that impacts the brain, and because of that, stopping drug abuse is not simply a matter of willpower. Through scientific advances we now know much more about how exactly drugs work in the brain, and we also know that drug addiction can be successfully treated to help people stop abusing drugs and resume productive lives.

What Is Drug Addiction?

Drug addiction is a chronic, often relapsing brain disease that causes compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences to the drug addict and those around them. Drug addiction is a brain disease because the abuse of drugs leads to changes in the structure and function of the brain. Although it is true that for most people the initial decision to take drugs is voluntary, over time the changes in the brain caused by repeated drug abuse can affect a person’s self-control and ability to make sound decisions, and at the same time create an intense impulse to take drugs.

It is because of these changes in the brain that it is so challenging for a person who is addicted to stop abusing drugs. Fortunately at Nishan or any Rehab, there are treatments that help people to counteract addiction’s powerful disruptive effects and regain control. Research shows that combining addiction treatment medications, if available, with behavioral therapy is the best way to ensure success for most patients. Treatment approaches that are tailored to each patient’s drug abuse patterns and any concurrent medical, psychiatric, and social problems can lead to sustained recovery and a life without drugs.

As with other chronic diseases, such as diabetes, asthma, or heart disease, drug addiction can be managed effectively.Yet, it is not uncommon for a person to relapse and begin abusing drugs again. Relapse does not signal failure; rather, it indicates that treatment should be reinstated or adjusted, or that alternate treatment is needed to help the person regain control and recover.

What Happens to Your Brain When You Take Drugs?

Drugs are chemicals that tap into the brain’s communication system and disrupt the way nerve cells normally send, receive, and process information. There are at least two ways that drugs are able to do this: by imitating the brain’s natural chemical messengers, and/or overstimulating the “reward circuit” of the brain.

Some drugs, such as marijuana and heroin, have a similar structure to chemical messengers, called neurotransmitters, which are naturally produced by the brain. Because of this similarity, these drugs are able to “fool” the brain’s receptors and activate nerve cells to send abnormal messages.

Other drugs, such as cocaine or methamphetamine, can cause the nerve cells to release abnormally large amounts of natural neurotransmitters, or prevent the normal recycling of these brain chemicals, which is needed to shut off the signal between neurons. This disruption produces a greatly amplified message that ultimately disrupts normal communication patterns.

Nearly all drugs, directly or indirectly, target the brain’s reward system by flooding the circuit with dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter present in regions of the brain that control movement, emotion, motivation, and feelings of pleasure. The over stimulation of this system, which normally responds to natural behaviors that are linked to survival (eating, spending time with loved ones, etc), produces euphoric effects in response to the drugs. This reaction sets in motion a pattern that “teaches” people to repeat the behavior of abusing drugs.

As a person continues to abuse drugs, the brain adapts to the dopamine surges by producing less dopamine or reducing dopamine receptors. The user must therefore keep abusing drugs to bring his or her dopamine function back to ”normal” or use more drugs to achieve a dopamine high.

At Nishan, we tell our clients that long-term drug abuse causes changes in other brain chemical systems and circuits, as well. Brain imaging studies of drug-addicted individuals show changes in areas of the brain that are critical to judgment, decision-making, learning and memory, and behavior control. Together, these changes can drive an abuser to seek out and take drugs compulsively — in other words, to become addicted to drugs.

Why Do Some People Become Addicted While Others Do Not?

No single factor can predict whether or not a person will become addicted to drugs. Risk for addiction is influenced by a person’s biology, social environment, and age or stage of development. The more risk factors an individual has, the greater the chance that taking drugs can lead to addiction. For example:

• Biology

  The genes that people are born with — in combination with environmental influences — account for about half of their addiction vulnerability. Additionally, gender, ethnicity, and the presence of other mental disorders may influence risk for drug abuse and addiction.

• Environment

  A person’s environment includes many different influences — from family and friends to socioeconomic status and quality of life, in general. Factors such aspeer pressure, physical and sexual abuse, stress, and parental involvement can greatly influence the course of drug abuse and addiction in a person’s life.

• Development

  Genetic and environmental factors interact with critical developmental stages in a person’s life to affect addiction vulnerability, and adolescents experience a double challenge. Although taking drugs at any age can lead to addiction, the earlier that drug use begins, the more likely it is to progress to more serious abuse. And because adolescents’ brains are still developing in the areas that govern decision making, judgment, and self-control, they are especially prone to risk-taking behaviors, including trying drugs of abuse.

Prevention Is Key

Drug addiction is a preventable disease. Research has shown that prevention programs that involve the family, schools, communities, and the media are effective in reducing drug abuse. Although many events and cultural factors affect drug abuse trends, when youths perceive drug abuse as harmful, they reduce their drug taking. It is necessary, therefore, to help youth and the general public to understand the risks of drug abuse and for teachers, parents, and health care professionals to keep sending the message that drug addiction can be prevented if a person never abuses drugs.

The solution is to quit drugs. Quitting drugs is an almost impossible task without professional guidance and counselling. Therefore, all addicts should find professional help or rehab centers in their vicinity’s where they can get help. At Nishan Rehab in Islamabad, Pakistan; we always welcome and help addicts and their family’s in all possible ways. We believe the epitome of our society should be to help stopping addiction and that is our passion and directive.

By Yahya Awan

Psychologist, Nishan Rehab

The Psychological Warning Signs of Drug Abuse

If you have noticed that someone you care about has been acting strangely and you are concerned that they may have fallen victim to drug addiction and abuse, there are certain signs that you can look for to confirm your suspicions. In particular, there are several psychological warning signs that would indicate an individual is struggling with addition.


Changes in Personality and Mood
One of the first indicators of drug abuse is a change in overall attitude or personality. If your friend or family member suddenly starts behaving differently than the norm, you should consider this a potential sign that they are using drugs. For example, if your friend was usually a happy and positive person but is suddenly really depressed or negative, you may want to talk to them and find out what's going on to see if you can help.
Another sign of drug abuse could be sudden changes in mood. A person may go from laughing, sometimes at nothing at all, to exhibiting an angry outburst. An individual may swing from one mood to the next rapidly, such as from hyperactivity to agitation, or there could be strange moods and irritability that are not the norm for that person.


Lack of Motivation and Drive
Another psychological sign of substance abuse could be a lack of motivation or a lack of drive. Your friend may no longer be interested in the same things that they used to enjoy, and may therefore only want to stay home and avoid doing anything fun or different.
An individual who is addicted to drugs may also appear spaced out or lethargic more often than not. This, too, makes it harder for them to be motivated about things and people that they used to care about.
Also, those who abuse drugs tend to have an inability to remain focused, which could make it difficult for them to stay in school or succeed at work. Suddenly not performing as successfully as before could be a sign of substance abuse.


Exhibiting a Lot of Negative Emotions
A lot of negative emotions can also indicate drug use. For example, individuals may find themselves feeling really anxious, fearful, or even paranoid, even if there aren't apparent reasons to feel that way. People who are addicted to drugs may also appear more withdrawn than usual and may end up keeping to themselves more often than spending time with others. Ultimately, these negative emotions can come out of nowhere, but they take over the addict's personality and are easily recognized by those around them.
By simply understanding the warning signs of drug abuse - particularly the psychological changes that occur as a result of substance use - you can get your friend or family member the help that they require sooner rather than later, and certainly before it's too late. There are many detox programs available, including those at Nishan Rehab, so you can talk to the addict and provide the support they need to get clean.

What is psychology and why do we need it?

Psychology is the scientific study of the human mind and behavior. We need psychology as it can give us a clearer picture on how we think, act, react and communicate with others. Psychology has a big impact on all areas of life, particularly in education, health, the economy, industry and crime. Psychologists work in many different areas of society and are concerned with problems such as: • making sure that people are happy at work and perform to the best of their abilities • supporting the police, courts and prison service to perform more effectively • assisting athletes and sports people to perform better • helping people to overcome depression, stress, trauma or phobias • easing the effects of parental divorce on children • speeding up recovery from brain injury • helping stop or prevent bullying at school or in the workplace • ensuring that school pupils and students are being taught in the most effective way. Psychologists help by applying scientific methods to obtain a better understanding of behaviour. This includes observing, measuring, testing and carrying out statistical analysis with individuals and groups to gain relevant information to support different situations. This enables psychologists to find solutions to problems in various settings.