Why Does Addiction Get Worse?
Addiction is a progressive disease. That means it gets worse with time whether the person with addiction is using something or not. The reason is that we lose dopamine producing cells as we age. This was shown by Dr. Nora Volkow at her lab in Brookhaven, New York. Averaged over her subjects, Dr. Volkow found that we lose about 7% of our dopamine receptors with every decade of life. She also looked at the decrease in dopamine producing neurons in the reward system and found that they may decrease with age as well. Sort of a double whammy, isn’t it? Well, there’s actually a triple whammy. Along with the dopamine receptor decrease in the reward centre, we get a serotonin signal to the frontal cortex that lets us know we’re a good person. Many have noticed that low self-esteem is a natural part of addiction, and I think this is one reason for it. If the MFB isn’t functioning right, we aren’t getting enough serotonin to our frontal cortex.
So basically with age we make less dopamine, can use less of the dopamine that we make, and can’t send the signal from the reward centre to the frontal cortex as well either. You’re probably thinking this is hopeless, aren’t you?
I don’t think it is. We know we can raise dopamine receptor levels by changing behavior and thinking (as in recovery), and we can raise levels of dopamine and serotonin with medications. So while we can’t stop aging, we can treat the effects.
If you or your loved one suffering from any addiction, please give us a call on +44 (0)207 100 7260 and we will help you.
