Addiction and Phobias are two of the most studied and examined psychological phenomenon that human beings experience. Addiction is a result of extreme need for a particular substance taken or consumed by the individual. While phobia can be associated with matters that either intimidates or frightens an individual even to death. Although both of them are considered different in their own rights, studying both addiction and phobia yields a certain common point that constitutes their similarities.
Addiction is a state of dependence often fringing on a deterioration of health. The risk factors most often associated with addiction are a person’s genes, mental state, drug history, childhood trauma and social environment. (Contet et al., (2004)) All of the factors of addiction are also basically the same factors that induce phobias, an extreme apprehension of something in a person, although phobias generally emphasize on trauma and mental state as a cause.
It is of fact that addiction is a condition wherein a person is extremely drawn into something of dependence, whereas with phobia a person is repulsed. In a way this can be viewed as a deemed similarity of both conditions. In addiction for example, childhood and social factors greatly affects the individual’s addiction. (Kinrys et al., (2003)) These factors define the effect of a particular substance upon trying.
Most substances that are deemed addictive are those that provide persons a relief from their surroundings, an effect that their psyche deems beneficial. (McEvoy et al., (2004)) Another aspect of addiction is that there are present chemicals in the substance that has natural incurring effect to the individual, affecting the person’s neural pathway which evidently leads to dependency on the substance.
The Essay on The Different Substances Which Individuals Might Use
Identify the different substances which individuals might use, how they are used and their likely effects. Abused substances produce some form of intoxication that alters judgment, attention, perception, or physical control. Psychoactive drugs can be categorised into three broad groups: 1 Stimulants: Amphetamines, Cocaine, Crack, Ecstasy, Anabolic steroids 2 Depressants: Cannabis, Alcohol, ...
Phobias on the other hand are intense, sometimes irrational fear of any object, matter or condition in the environment. Phobias are also severely impacted, most of all by childhood experience since it is at these times that fear is capable of being imprinted indelibly in a person’s psyche. (Levi et al., (2006))
The memory of any childhood experience leading to phobias may or may not be remembered, but the fear still manifests itself when faced upon stimuli similar to the cause. This mentioned and distinct fear continues to haunt the individual when he or she encounters the object or matter he or she has a phobia on. Many individuals struggle with this condition, and feel their body numb and unable to move because of extreme fear of the object.
Addictions work upon a brain reward pathway in the hypothalamus that induces the subject to want more of a product that provides it with a seemingly beneficial effect. An example is the dopamine pathway. Dopamine is a natural hormone that induces a feeling of pleasure. Drugs like cocaine produce a sudden influx of dopamine in the brain, producing a sensation of extreme pleasure and triggering a desire to repeat the experience.
Phobias on the other hand hitherto have no known specific neural pathway. However, the amygdala, located in the anterior portion of the temporal lobe, which is an essential part of our body’s fear mechanism, has been touted as the one responsible for the imprinting of phobias in a person’s psyche.
(Rauch et al., (2003)) Sensory information passes through the amygdala where two signals are produced, one for readying the body immediately and another acting as a feedback mechanism, which gauges the threat. However, once the first signal has been activated, threatening or not, it would take some time for the psyche to remove the label of fear from the stimuli.
The Essay on The Great Fear Greatest Threat
Times change and people come and go, but fear is a constant, and in "The Great Fear" by J. Ronald Oakley, he describes the wave of fear that occurred in the 1950 s. In 1692, the townspeople of Salem were scared into believing that they were among witches, and in 1950's the "Red" Scare destroyed thousands of peoples lives that were accused of being Communists. Those accused in both witch hunts were ...
Both addiction and phobias are extremes of the methods of our psyche to ensure our well being. Addictions result from our mind motivating us to obtain more of a perceived beneficial substance.
This reward system induces the much more frequent intake of the substance, and also requires much more in quantity as time passes in order to attain the same sensation. Phobias result from the mind trying to react to and imprint threats. The pathway remembers the initial reaction to the threat, and copies it, regardless of whether the threat is irrational or not.
Sources:
Contet C, Kieffer BL, Befort K. (2004).
Mu opioid receptor: a gateway to drug addiction. Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire
Levi, D., Shabat-Simon, M., and Zangen, A. (2006) Repeated electrical brain stimulation of reward-related brain regions reduces cocaine seeking and alters glutamate receptor levels.
Kavanaugh, R (1996).
Emotion: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers, Hillsdale, N.J.,
Kinrys, G., M. H. Pollack, N. M. Simon, et al. (2003).
Valproic Acid for the Treatment of Social Anxiety Disorder. International Clinical Psychopharmacology, 18, 169-172.
