What is Cocaine Addiction?
What is Cocaine Addiction?
🌬👃Cocaine is a powerful stimulant that causes euphoria, increased energy, and mental alertness. Although cocaine is classified as illegal in all 50 states, there are an estimate of 850,000 dependent cocaine users in the United States. Repeatedly using cocaine changes your brain’s balance of happy chemicals, resulting in physical dependence and psychological addiction symptoms 🤕
•
😁📈 When using cocaine, increased amounts of happy chemicals in the brain cause physical effects in the users. Cocaine causes a stronger and sustained effect by dopamine, an essential energy increasing neurotransmitter. In this way, cocaine consumption results in more increased mood and energy which lasts in the brain for a longer period of time ⏱
•
🧠🏆Similar to many other drugs of abuse, cocaine increases dopamine in the brain’s Reward Processing Center. Essentially, use of cocaine alters how the brain associates a stimulus and a reward. Cravings and addictive behaviors result, in an effort to repeatedly achieve the reward👀
•
🤤🗓 Frequent use of cocaine causes difficulty controlling use and “seeking” behaviors. When a consistent cocaine user is sober, their dopamine levels are noticeably lower than in a non-user’s brain. Consequently, chronic users crave cocaine when sober, in an effort to increase their dopamine levels back to a normal level. This is where use stops being for pleasure, to the user it feels necessary for survival📉
•
🧠🤷Compared to sober participants, consistent cocaine users displayed issues with sustained attention and a decreased ability to make goal-oriented plans or multi-task. More research must be conducted to fully comprehend the short and long term effects of cocaine on the brain🤔
•
❗️💛 If you or a friend is struggling with cocaine addiction, the safest way to recover is with professional help. Talk to a doctor about making plans for recovery. Remember, addiction can happen to anyone and those struggling need kindness, empathy, and support to recover successfully🤝
