An addiction, must be described like so, for a conduct of appetizing character, whose basic characteristics is the association of a situation or object of desire with the satisfaction of a necessity. An addiction supposes a diminution or loss of the personal control and obsession reason why it constitutes this object or necessity.
Physical addictions and behavioural addictions
The physical addictions talk about to the consumption noncontrolled of substances like drugs (cocaine, alcohol, tobacco). Other addictions, present/display a landlord of compulsive conduct that generates automatic control difficulties, reason why also they are considered behavioural, like the game, sex or the compulsive purchase.
Factors that can trigger an addictive conduct
Social maladjustment; as a result of disagreements between the sociocultural context in which is the individual and the attitude that it adopts in front of her.
Emotional problems; like feeling little valued, rejected, despised…
Needs of adaptation or property to a group; like feeling integrated in the work.
Needs brought about by physical and emotional ailments; like constant anxiety, stress, insomnia, physical pains, diseases…
Hedonismo; the search of pleasing.
Although these are factors that can contribute to the appearance and later maintenance of an addiction, exist other factors that escape to our control and that us makes equally vulnerable to the addictions. One is the biological, genetic and hereditary factors. Therefore we are ourselves influenced by, social and internal, own external factors of each individual.
How a certain consumption becomes an addiction
Starting phase; moderate consumption and with no need employee to do it.
When the consumption becomes more frequent; no longer it is consumed sporadically, as a controlled benefit.
Development and continuity of the addiction; when one extends the consumption at other moments and situations. It is explained by mental and behavioural mechanisms.
Phase of change; the addiction stops appearing.
The addictive conducts are learned
So that the basic principles of the learning can be applied for their understanding. In order to understand the beginning of an addictive conduct, psychology resorts to the observacional learning. This way of learning is based, as its own name indicates, on observing others, that they are taken like models to imitate. Thus, through this united imitation in the curiosity they play an important role for the beginning of the addiction and the process of learning for the acquisition and maintenance of this addiction.
Positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement in drugs
Positive reinforcement is called when the consumer drug for “feeling well”.
Negative reinforcement is called when the consumer drug for “stopping feeling bad”.
Once the addiction has been developed, which urges and motivates to the consumption is to stop feeling the negative symptoms of abstinence, more than to undergo the pleasant sensations. In the phase of addiction, the consumer usually increases the frequency of consumption to go ahead to the effects that abstinence produces, what is called “the monkey”. This way, the addict one enters a vicious circle del that becomes very complicated to leave if it is not counted with the help of specialists.
This must to that the dependency to the drug and the symptoms of abstinence they only can be palliated with another dose, and so the necessity is reinforced and increased of the consumption of the drug. For this reason it is so necessary resorting to a specialist to begin the chemical decontamination process.
At the moment, we were in a society where the existence of addictions supposes a serious one and extended problem, whose explanation is fundamental so that socially we pruned to understand that the addictions are a disease and as so it is had to try to the addict ones. Mainly to understand that they are possible to be cured with the help of medical professionals, psychologists (for psycotherapies), relatives, friendly and of the society as a whole.
