While genes and temperament can raise our risk, they don’t make addiction inevitable.
, the Netflix series about the USA’s opioid crisis, and it’s not just the 300,000 deaths from opioid-related overdoses that’s shocking. It’s how easily the drug company Purdue convinced doctors that Oxycontin, the opioid painkiller that became responsible for many of those deaths, was non-addictive.
“The idea persists because of stigma. It makes it easy to blame people for their circumstances,” he says, adding that it’s still around in the “drink responsibly” or “gamble responsibly” messages from the alcohol and gambling industries. These are words that imply the products are safe, the industries blameless – and it’s being “irresponsible” that brings trouble.
According to Lee, people who have low emotional control, whether it be from ADHD or an experience with trauma, may be at risk of problems with alcohol and other drugs.“With ADHD, the rational part of the brain is less active than average, so it has more difficulty keeping big emotions in check,” says Lee. “Trauma is different – it primes the limbic system to overreact so much that the rational part of the brain is no match for the intensity of emotion.
“We don’t know exactly how CBT works for addiction – but my personal belief is that it helps activate the prefrontal cortex by helping us be deliberately more mindful of our thoughts,” Lee says.grapples with alcohol, drugs or gambling at some time in our lives. Family history ups the risk, though how much of this is genetic and how much is learnt isn’t clear.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
'Addictive compulsion' drives man to collect thousands of child abuse images, videosA Bundaberg man found with more than 20,000 child exploitation images and videos on his devices was driven by a 'desperate need to be accepted', a court has heard.
Read more »
'Addictive compulsion' drives man to collect thousands of child abuse images, videosA Bundaberg man found with more than 20,000 child exploitation images and videos on his devices was driven by a 'desperate need to be accepted', a court has heard.
Read more »
‘Unprofessional’ or ‘unfortunate accident’? AFL world split amid fallout to Swans star’s costly injuryWhy ‘unprofessional’ Mad Monday setback would have coach livid amid Swans’ ‘all-in’ flag tilt
Read more »
The who, why and what of the PwC tax leak scandalFinding a way to straighten out the structural issue would be the constructive way for the entire professional services sector to move on from a bad patch.
Read more »
When does daylight saving start and why doesn't all of Australia observe it?Daylight saving starts this Sunday, but it isn't observed in every Australian state and territory.
Read more »