Addiction is now defined as a chronic brain disease that changes not only how the brain works but its structure also.  Science is evolving the way addiction treatment is approached.  We now understand that addiction treatment needs to incorporate a whole body approach of addressing physical, mental, and emotional aspects of the disease.  By using a combination of medical management, behavior therapy and/or alternative treatments like acupuncture, it becomes easier for addicts to stay abstinent for longer periods of time.  This then allows the brain to heal neural pathways and hopefully repair damage that was done if possible.

At Integrative Healing Arts-Utah we offer many therapies on site to help deal with addiction.  We provide medical management of addiction with the use of many medications that are aimed at treating the addiction and treating withdrawal symptoms.  We also offer many treatment modalities to help decrease cravings, change behaviors, and manage withdrawal symptoms.  Below is a list of therapies offered at our facility.

1. Suboxone – Medication for the addiction of opiates
2. Prometa – Medication for the addiction of alcohol and methamphetamines
3. Counseling – both individual and group
4. Nutritional Counseling – Naturally increase neurotransmitter levels and increase health
5. AcuDetox – Auricular (Ear) Acupuncture to help lower anxiety and drug cravings
6. Full body Acupuncture – Management of withdrawal symptoms
7. Massage – Management of withdrawal symptoms and aid in detoxification of the body
8. Yoga – Movement to aid in detoxification of the body

Individuals suffering from addiction have to deal daily with the long standing stigma society has concerning addiction.  The prevalent thought about addiction was that an individual addicted to a substance was some how morally flawed and lacking willpower.  That if the individual wanted to stop abusing a substance they could.  This conceptualization about addiction has shaped the way society has responded to addiction treatment by emphasizing punitive consequences instead of preventative and therapeutic treatments.  Today science is changing the way we look and treat individuals dealing with drug addiction.

Scientific research as demonstrated that addiction is a disease that affects both the brain chemistry and an individual’s behavior.  Scientists have identified many biological and environmental factors that can contribute to the development of addiction and foster the progression of the disease.  This knowledge is allowing the development of new effective treatments and the idea of preventative strategies to reduce the catastrophic toll that addiction takes on individuals, families, and communities.

Addiction is defined by the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) as “a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences.  It is considered a brain disease because drugs change the brain – they change its structure and how it works.  These brain changes can be long lasting, and can lead to the harmful behaviors seen in people who abuse drugs.”

There are various risk factors that can lead to addiction and some preventative factors that can reduce the risk of addiction.  No single risk factor can determine who will become an addict or not.  It is known that the overall risk of addiction is influenced by genetic makeup, gender, ethnicity, mental disorders, developmental stage that the drug was introduced, and the social environment that the drug was introduced.  Another risk factor includes the route of administration.  Smoking a drug or injecting the drug into a vein increases its addictive potential.  The reason is that when administered in this fashion the drug hits the brain within seconds, producing a powerful rush of pleasure that can fade within a few minutes prompting more drug use.  Other various reasons that can lead an individual to drug addiction include:

• The Need To Feel Good – Effects tend to differ with the type of drug being used.  Stimulants such as cocaine can produce a high with feelings of power, self-confidence and increased energy for a short period of time.  In contrast opiates such as heroin give feelings of relaxation and satisfaction.
• A Need To Feel Better – For some people that might suffer from social anxiety or stress related disorders may start using drugs in an attempt to decrease their feelings of distress or inadequacy.   Stress can many times play a role in continued drug addiction and relapse.
• A Need To Do Better – The stress to continually do better academically, athletically, or socially can lead some to begin experimenting with drugs and lead to continued abuse.
• Curiosity And Social Pressure – Adolescents tend to be in the high risk category here.  The strong influence of peer pressure can open the door to initial experimentation then addiction.

The initial effects of drug use can appear positive for most people and is mostly voluntary.  Most also believe that they can control their use.  However, when drug addiction becomes a reality, an individual’s ability to wield any self control can become seriously impaired.  The drug then becomes necessary for the individual to feel “normal” despite the problems that occur to themselves and their loved ones.

Brain imaging studies of drug addicted individuals show actual physical changes that occur in the areas of the brain that control judgment, decision making, learning and memory, and control behavior.  Scientists believe that these changes alter the way the brain normally is supposed to work.  This may help to begin to explain the compulsive and destructive behaviors that occur in addiction.

Since addiction is considered a developmental disease it tends to develop in childhood or adolescence when the brain is still developing.  The major area of the brain that continues to develop in childhood is the prefrontal cortex that enables an individual to assess situations, make reasonable and appropriate decisions, and keep both emotions and desires under control.  This simple fact that part of the brain is a work in progress for adolescents puts them at increased risk for poor decision making.  For this reason the introduction of drugs when the brain is still developing can lead to more serious drug abuse and addiction over a life time.

Environmental factors can also play a role in increasing the risk of drug use in adolescence.  Times of transition, such as changing schools, moving, or a divorce can increase the risk of drug abuse.  Also the normal behaviors of adolescents can put them at increased risk for drug addiction, such as the desire to try something new or risky.  Peer pressure is also a factor that leads many teens into drug addiction.  There is also the fallacy of thinking that certain drugs can improve their appearance or athletic/academic performance or that the use of some drugs might ease their anxiety in social situations.

This then leads to the question of how and where do drugs change brain function?  To fully understand this there is a need to understand the parts of the brain that drugs affect.  The brain is made of several distinct parts that work together to perform specific functions correctly and accurately.  When one part of the brain is altered then life-sustaining functions can be affected and can drive compulsive drug addiction.  Brain areas that are typically affected by drug abuse include:

• Brain Stem – communication network between the brain and the spinal cord.  This part of the brain controls critical functions to sustain life like heart rate and breathing.
• Limbic System – this is the brain’s reward center.  This important part of the brain links together several other structures that control and regulate the body’s ability to feel pleasure and our ability to feel emotions, good or bad.
• Cerebral Cortex – is the grey/white matter that is the bulk of the brain.  It is divided into several different areas that control specific information that is coming in from various areas of our body’s and other areas that give use the ability to reason, think, and make decisions.

Drugs work by interfering with the brain’s natural communication system.  This interferes with the way nerve cells that make up the brain send, receive and process information.  Nerve cells communicate via chemical messengers called neurotransmitters.  These neurotransmitters will attach to a special receptor on an adjacent nerve cell membrane and stimulate a specific message within the cell.  There are also ways of recycling neurotransmitters so that the signal can be shut down so that another signal (same or different) can be transmitted to the next cell. 

Drugs can interfere with this communication in several ways.  For example, marijuana and opiates can activate nerve cells because their chemical make-up mimics or looks similar to a natural neurotransmitter found in the brain.  The drug will attach to a nerve receptor and trick it into thinking that it is transmitting a specific signal, which in turns activates the cell.  However, the nerve cells are not activated in the same way as a natural neurotransmitter does and thus an abnormal signal is sent to the other nerve cells.  Other drugs, like amphetamine or cocaine, causes the nerve cells to release abnormally high quantities of natural neurotransmitters in the brain or can prevent the recycling of the neurotransmitters to increase levels.  This then floods the brain with the neurotransmitter amplifying the distorted message and disrupting communication pathways in the brain.

Ultimately all drugs of abuse target the Limbic system and will cause an increase in a neurotransmitter called dopamine.  Dopamine is a major neurotransmitter that helps to regulate movement, emotion, thought processes, motivation, and feelings (specifically pleasure).  Our brains are put together in such a way that life-sustaining behaviors produce pleasure or rewards so that we will keep doing them.  Drugs of abuse activate this reward circuit in the brain by flooding it with dopamine.  This continuous activation of the reward centers many times overrides everything else training the brain that the drug is something important and that it needs, creating a near obsessive thought process around the drug.

With continual use of the drug the brain will respond to the over stimulation of dopamine and start to decrease the natural production of the neurotransmitter and the amount of receptors that are found on the neuronal call membrane.  This then lowers the impact of dopamine on the reward circuit causing the drug abuser’s brain to be muted to any ability to experience pleasure.  This is the reason many addicts start to feel flat, lifeless, and depressed because of their inability to find pleasure in activities that they once found pleasurable.  At this point they need the drug in increasing amounts just to feel normal.

Another issue with long term drug addiction involves the neurotransmitter glutamate that is not only involved in the pleasure centers of the brain but in our ability to learn new things.  When a drug alters the level of glutamate in the brain it can impair cognitive function, cause changes in behavior, and sometimes change nonconscious memory systems.  This is how external environmental cues can trigger uncontrollable cravings in addicts despite the period of time they have been abstinent. 

This presents powerful stumbling blocks to those struggling with addiction who want to seek treatment.  Addiction is a treatable disease.  It is a long road that many deal with, but it need not be a life sentence of fear.  Addiction can be managed successfully and there are many tools to help effectively treat the disruptive effects on the brain and help addicts gain control back into their lives.
When a person enters into addiction treatment there is always the risk of relapse.  Relapse does not necessarily mean failure of the treatment.  Just like any chronic disease there tend to be relapses.  Treatment involves changing deeply imbedded behaviors that can lead to relapse.  Until those behaviors are changed then relapse is a constant possibility.  However, there are therapies available to help prevent or decrease the reoccurrence of relapses.

At Integrative Healing Arts-Utah we offer many therapies on site to help deal with addiction.  We provide medical management of addiction with the use of many medications that are aimed at treating the addiction and treating withdrawal symptoms.  We also offer many treatment modalities to help decrease cravings, change behaviors, and manage withdrawal symptoms.  Below is a list of therapies offered at our facility.

• Suboxone – Medication for the addiction of opiates
• Prometa – Medication for the addiction of alcohol and methamphetamines
• Counseling – both individual and group
• AcuDetox – Auricular (Ear) Acupuncture to help lower anxiety and drug cravings
• Full body Acupuncture – Management of withdrawal symptoms
• Nutritional Counseling – Naturally increase neurotransmitter levels and increase health
• Massage – Management of withdrawal symptoms and aid in detoxification of the body
• Yoga – Movement to aid in detoxification of the body