Psychological Dependence Risk Factors & Examples What is Psychological Dependence? Video & Lesson Transcript

The feeling is caused by chemical reactions to neurotransmitters within the brain. Negative symptoms occur when the euphoria feeling begins to fade away as dopamine levels decrease. The decrease in mood-changing chemicals causes a person to feel irritable, tired, sad, or hopeless and experience a surge of other negative feelings. The negative feelings a person experiences cause them to crave more of the substance that makes them feel good.

Thus, physical dependence does not necessarily constitute addiction. This distinction can be difficult to discern, especially regarding prescribed pain medications, for which needing increasing dosages can represent tolerance. Psychological dependence is an emotional state caused by how chemicals affect the brain. A person’s emotional behavior changes, resulting in mood swings, feelings of irritability, and depression. In at least three to four paragraphs, write an essay that discusses how psychological dependence on substances can alter a person’s behaviors.

Understanding the Difference Between Physical and Psychological Dependence

Physical dependence, or physical addiction, means your body cannot function normally without the drug. This physical need for your drug happens over a period of time. Your body changed its ways and means to work with the drug you kept abusing.

As people’s psychological and physical reactions aren’t universal across all types of drugs, it’s hard to put all the different signs and symptoms of addiction into two completely distinct categories. If you are experiencing a psychological addiction and attempt to quit using your drug of choice, you’ll experience withdrawal symptoms as your body tries to compensate for the lack of chemicals in its system. Before splitting addiction out into physical and psychological addiction, it is helpful to understand what addiction is as an umbrella term. When people talk about addiction, it means the continued use of a substance that alters a person’s mood in spite of negative consequences/behaviors. Addiction is a state of psychological or physical dependence (or both) on the use of alcohol or other drugs.

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DBT might be better over CBT because it recognizes that these thoughts and feelings may never go away completely. Yet, it gives people the tools to change their behavior in spite of how they think and feel. In 2013, the American Psychological Association (APA) released the fifth edition of the DSM. In this edition, the definitions physiological dependence on alcohol revolving around addiction were changed once again. The APA ditched both “substance abuse” and “substance dependence” in favor of “substance use disorder.” Substance use disorder is now the medical term for addiction. Previously, abuse was a mild form of addiction, and dependence was a moderate or severe form of addiction.

• It’s less likely they can tell if a person suffering from a substance use disorder feels sad every single day.
• Another notable difference is that most stimulant users will go through psychological withdrawal, rather than a physical one when they cease to use drugs.
• Psychological dependence is the emotional and motivational factors that play into the mental desire to use drugs or alcohol.
• Insomnia or lack of sleep is another physical addictive dependency attribute versus the psychological dependency attribute.
• Tolerance works the same way with alcohol – someone who used to get drunk off of three beers may now need to drink hard liquor in larger amounts in order to get drunk.

(Substance use disorder, or SUD, is a preferred term in the scientific community.) Because of this lack of consistency, some ground rules can help differentiate between the two terms. The focus during treatment when the problem is more psychological is generally an evidence-based therapy like cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). CBT is often a go-to approach because it focuses on changing patterns of thought and behavior that influence addiction. Physical dependence or addiction happens when the body is no longer able to legitimately function without the presence of a drug.

‘Substance Abuse’ Vs. ‘Substance Dependence’

One of the most significant benefits of addiction treatment is that it can help you safely detox from substances without experiencing withdrawal symptoms. In addition, treatment can provide you with the tools and resources you need to manage your addiction long-term successfully. For example, you’ll learn how to identify triggers and cope with cravings in healthy ways.

Other drugs, like opioids, may not be as dangerous but can still be difficult to quit on your own. Detox is usually the first program in an addiction treatment center. Recovering addicts will stop or taper off the substance they are addicted to.

Addiction encompasses both a mental and physical reliance on a given substance. Join the thousands of people that have called a treatment provider for rehab information. Refusing https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/why-alcohol-makes-you-feel-hot-and-sweat-after-drinking/ to believe there is an addiction problem is another social addict symptom. Believing the person can relinquish the substance at any time is another social symptom of an addict.

This can help people effectively stop using as their body is supported in learning to live without the drug. Psychological dependence, on the other hand, is treated using behavioral therapies, holistic therapies, and support groups. The goal of these treatments is to help patients identify harmful thoughts or behaviors and replace them with healthier coping mechanisms.

Moreover, after receiving some of these medications, animals exhibited lower relapse vulnerability and/or a reduced amount consumed once drinking was (re)-initiated (Ciccocioppo et al. 2003; Finn et al. 2007; Funk et al. 2007; Walker and Koob 2008). These findings have clear clinical relevance from a treatment perspective. Indeed, clinical investigations similarly have reported that a history of multiple detoxifications can impact responsiveness to and efficacy of various pharmacotherapeutics used to manage alcohol dependence (Malcolm et al. 2000, 2002, 2007). Future studies should focus on elucidating neural mechanisms underlying sensitization of symptoms that contribute to a negative emotional state resulting from repeated withdrawal experience. Schematic illustration of how problem drinking can lead to the development of dependence, repeated withdrawal experiences, and enhanced vulnerability to relapse. Alcohol dependence is characterized by fundamental changes in the brain’s reward and stress systems that manifest as withdrawal symptoms when alcohol consumption is stopped or substantially reduced.

Scientists are increasingly understanding the links between brain chemicals, hormonal triggers, the nervous system, and consciousness. Separating the body and mind when treating drug dependence would be counterproductive. The addiction impacts the whole person, so the person needs healing in all aspects.