Breaking the Stigma: Understanding Addiction as a Disease

Promote recovery through understanding and support: 

Addiction remains one of the most stigmatized and misunderstood health issues in society today. Rather than viewing addiction simply as a moral failing or lack of willpower, it is important to recognize that addiction is a complex disease that affects millions of people around the world. At the Center for Change, we work to break down the stigma surrounding addiction and increase understanding of addiction as a treatable medical condition. 

Stigma surrounding addiction: 

Although great advances have been made in our understanding of addiction as a disease, stigma and misconceptions persist. People struggling with addiction often face criticism, discrimination, and shame, which can create barriers to seeking help and receiving treatment. Stigma stems from a lack of understanding and empathy, leading to harmful attitudes and behaviors that further alienate people suffering from addiction. 

Understanding Addiction as a Disease: 

At the Center for Change, we strongly believe in educating individuals and communities about the nature of addiction as a chronic, relapsing brain disease. Addiction affects the brain’s reward circuitry, causing compulsive drug-seeking behaviors and significant changes in judgment, decision-making, and impulse control. By recognizing addiction as a disease, we can shift the narrative away from blame and shame and toward compassion and support. 

How Center for Change can help: 

Center for Change provides a variety of evidence-based treatment and support services to help individuals overcome addiction and take back their lives. 

Here’s what we can do for you

A comprehensive treatment approach: 

Our multidisciplinary team provides customized treatment to address the physical, emotional, and psychological aspects of addiction. Provide a plan. From therapy and counseling to comprehensive wellness programs, we offer comprehensive support to promote healing and recovery. 

Empowering education: 

Knowledge is a powerful tool to fight prejudice. Through our educational programs and resources, we aim to increase awareness and understanding of addiction, reduce stigma, and foster empathy and support within our communities. 

Non-judgmental Support: 

The Center for Change provides a safe, non-judgmental environment where individuals can share their experiences, seek help without fear of stigma, and receive the support they need toward recovery.

Advocacy and Community Engagement: 

We actively participate in advocacy efforts that counter stigma, promote policy change, and advocate for increasing access to addiction treatment and support services. By working together with communities, policy makers, and stakeholders, we can create a more supportive and inclusive environment for individuals in recovery. 

Developing tolerance: 

Over time, the brain adapts to the point where the substance or activity it seeks is no longer actually enjoyable. 

In nature, rewards usually do not come without time and effort. Addictive drugs and habits flood the brain with dopamine and other neurotransmitters, providing shortcuts. Our brains have no easy way to withstand that onslaught. 

For example, addictive drugs release 2 to 10 times more dopamine than natural reward releases, and do so more quickly and reliably. When you become addicted, your brain becomes overloaded with receptors. The brain responds by reducing dopamine production or eliminating dopamine receptors. This is a similar adjustment to lowering the volume on a speaker if it’s too noisy. 

As a result of these adaptations, dopamine has less of an effect on the brain’s reward centers. Over time, people who develop an addiction usually find that the desired substance no longer provides them with as much pleasure. Their brains have adapted so they need to take in more dopamine to get the same dopamine “high.” This is an effect known as tolerance. 

Power takes over: 

At this point, power takes over. The pleasure associated with the addictive drug or behavior disappears, but the memory of the desired effect and the need to reproduce it (desire) remains. It’s as if your normal motivational mechanisms have stopped working. 

The learning process mentioned above is also involved. The hippocampus and amygdala store information about environmental cues related to substances of interest and allow us to find them again. These memories help create a conditioned response, or intense craving, whenever a person encounters these environmental cues.

Cravings not only lead to addiction, but also to relapse after hard-won sobriety. For example, a person addicted to heroin may be at risk of relapse when they see a hypodermic needle, while another person may start drinking again when they see a bottle of whiskey. Conditioned learning helps explain why people who develop an addiction are at risk of relapse even after years of abstinence. 

Recovery is possible:

As the 1980s slogan suggested, “just saying no” is not enough. Instead, you can protect (and heal) yourself from addiction by saying yes to other things. Develop diverse interests that bring meaning to your life. Understand that your problems are usually temporary, and perhaps most importantly, understand that life isn’t always fun.

Breaking down the stigma surrounding addiction requires collective effort, education, and empathy. At the Center for Change, we are committed to correcting misconceptions, promoting understanding, and providing compassionate care to those struggling with addiction. If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, know that you are not alone and that help is available. Contact the Center for Change today to take the first step toward healing, hope, and recovery. Together, we can break down prejudice and build a brighter future for everyone.

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