Factors that “Activate” Addiction

Nov 20

Building on the blog I wrote earlier this month, “Why Can’t I Stop Drinking?”, I wanted to dive more into the factors that contribute to someone “activating” the cycle of addiction. The focus of this blog is to compare why some people develop addictive behaviors, whereas others do not. That includes folks who were raised in the same household, with the same parents, and went to the same school. Where does the “switch” happen?

Why do some people become addicted to drugs or alcohol, and others do not? Is there something wrong with my brain? Why can’t I stop drinking after just 1-2 drinks like my friends?

The answer to these questions need to be explained in layers, overlapping with my previous blog on developmental trauma as well. Addiction is a developmental disease that typically begins in childhood or adolescence. The brain continues to develop into adulthood and undergoes dramatic changes during adolescence.

One of the brain areas that is still maturing during adolescence is the prefrontal cortex–the part of the brain that enables us to assess situations, make sound decisions, and keep our emotions and desires under control. The fact that this critical part of an adolescent’s brain is still a work in progress puts them at increased risk for making poor decisions (such as trying alcohol/drugs or continuing to take them).

When we first try alcohol for example, our brains usually have not fully formed. Even if addiction doesn’t develop until later in life, odds are you first tried a substance before the age of 25. And a key factor to mention is that our brains never forget that first sensation we felt while drinking.

When life begins to build with stressors and expectations, that neural pathway was already formed once and our brain was flooded with dopamine (the pleasure center) and we start to seek out ways to cope. This may lead to struggles with binge eating, excessive shopping, smoking weed or cigarettes, overcommitting yourself to work, anything to “cope” with the emotional stress surfacing and “feel” more connected to yourself.

These behaviors trick your brain into thinking you are doing things that make you feel happy, or things you enjoy. Eventually when we suppress those emotions long enough, we don’t recognize when they show up. So we’re stuck within that neural pathway of drinking to cope with anything life throws our way, or even just seeking out a way to escape the reality of life.

Once we hit that “stuck” mode in life, we feel a sense of disconnect from ourselves and others, along with hopelessness of how to change it. Therefore, reinforcing the unhealthy patterns.

It’s not just that we struggle with taking care of ourselves so then we drink instead. A lot of times we are able to function with our alcohol use by still exercising, socializing, spending time with family, etc. But there are risk factors that exacerbate the pull addiction has on us.

You can have two siblings both raised by an alcoholic parent, in the same home, and both can have completely different relationships with alcohol. This is dependent on the attachment they had with that parent and the way they feel connected to themselves.

Risk vs Protective Factors

As with any other disease, vulnerability to addiction differs from person to person, and no single factor determines whether a person will become addicted to drugs or alcohol. In general, the more risk factors a person has, the greater the chance that taking drugs/alcohol will lead to abuse and addiction. Protective factors, on the other hand, reduce a person’s risk of developing addiction. Risk and protective factors may be either environmental or biological.

Here are some common Risk Factors:

Aggressive behavior in childhood; or any emotional dysregulation without intervention
Lack of parental supervision
Poor social skills
Drug experimentation
Availability of drugs/alcohol
Community poverty
Genetics/family mental illness
Chaotic home (i.e. abuse, domestic arguments, etc)

On the other hand, here are some Protective Factors:

Good self-control
Parental monitoring and support
Positive relationships
Academic competence
Witnessing sober gatherings
Neighborhood pride/engagement
Support regarding mental health within the family
Stable home (i.e. witnessing loving parents, attentive to needs)

Scientists estimate that genetic factors account for between 40-60% of a person’s vulnerability to addiction; this includes the effects of environmental factors on the function and expression of a person’s genes (NIDA, 2020). Adolescents and people with mental health disorders (i.e. Bipolar, ADHD, Depression, etc.) are at greater risk of drug abuse and addiction than the general population.

When a person who is genetically vulnerable grows up in a chaotic home environment, and/or experiences any of the common risk factors, these conditions can “activate” the genetic tendency to drink or see drugs excessively.

Even with a perfectly healthy home environment, a person who suffers from depression or anxiety, and is exposed to a peer group using drugs/alcohol would be more likely to develop an addiction than a person who experienced either one of those conditions alone.

The Healing

You can’t go back and change your risk factors growing up, but you can learn to cope with challenges that may have been brought on by those experiences. We do this by building new neural pathways within the brain. We start to hold ourselves accountable and work towards a lifestyle that protects our mental health.

We are a sum of our life circumstances, our genetics, our risk and protective factors, and working through the developmental trauma we may have experienced growing up. There isn’t just one reason why someone develops addiction over another person. Which means there isn’t one thing that is going to heal that.

Try these behaviors to target a slow dopamine and work to rewire your brain: