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Addiction & Your Brain |
| When using alcohol or drugs, your brain is essentially rewired to want to feed that addiction. The brain, which controls our motor skills, heart, breathing, emotions, and behavior is trained to make us want things that make us feel good. Our limbic system produces feelings of pleasure. Unfortunately, highly addictive drugs and even alcohol trigger the limbic system therefore encouraging and enforcing that the feelings we get from the drugs are a good thing. Alcohol directly affects the chemistry in our brain. It alters the levels of our neurotransmitters which are chemical messengers. Mind- and mood-altering drugs are known for creating high levels of pleasure in the limbic system. Dopamine is the main transmitter for motivation, pleasure, and motor function. Drugs such as cocaine, crystal meth, opioids and marijuana activate neurons because their chemical structure is similar to that of natural neurotransmitters in our brain. |
People do not tend to have addictions to drugs such as LSD, ecstasy, mushrooms, and other hallucinogens. These drugs affect the serotonin but not the dopamine. Serotonin is a natural mood stabilizer. Dopamine is what gives the feeling of pleasure and the “high” that so many people chase.
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