Additionally, substance abuse and addiction are avoidable. Educators, parents, and health care professionals have key responsibilities in avoiding drug abuse and addiction among adolescents.
The brain's reward circuit is a way to induce pleasure and flood it in dopamine. A healthy reward system encourages the person to continue life-sustaining activities, such as eating well and spending time with family members. Dopamine spikes in the reward circuit encourage harmful, but fun, behaviours like drug abuse. This causes individuals to engage in these behaviors repeatedly.
Prescription painkiller dependency: Prevention and treatment Most people who take their medication as prescribed by a doctor are not addicted to it even after they've used it for a few years. Don't let fear of getting addicted to drugs prevent you from seeking out pain relief from these substances. However, it is possible to be more vulnerable if someone in your family has been a victim of substance abuse.