Common Misconceptions About Addiction

DR. PARI DESHMUKH is a board certified psychiatrist, a certified psychotherapist, and a meditation trainer in both Heartfulness and Mindfulness. He is also an elected fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and the Society of Addiction Medicine. He has a special interest in the common ground of science and spirituality, and their implications on the betterment of our mental health. Here he addresses some basic aspects of addiction, including common misconceptions.

- DR. PARI DESHMUKH

What is addiction?

Addiction is a treatable, chronic medical disease, a complex interaction among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual's life experiences. Many think that addiction is not treatable and is some form of moral defect or character defect, which is not true. It's just like high blood pressure or diabetes. Chronic means long-term; it can be a very long time including over a lifetime, but it is treatable.

The brain is involved in pushing the addiction, and there are certain brain circuits that are more involved. One of them is the reward pathway.

There is also the component of genetics; if our family members have addiction disorders, our chances of addiction are more. Even if their addiction was in some other form, we may still be predisposed to it.

Then there is interaction with the environment. What kind of stimulus, rewards, and punishments is the environment giving us, and how is it guiding our behavior? That has a tremendous impact on our addiction.

Then there are individual life experiences. How has our life been shaped so far?

So, brain circuits, genetics, individual life experiences, and environment are the ingredients that come together to form a long-term medical disease, which is treatable. Research shows that treating addiction is equally as successful as treating other chronic disorders, like diabetes.

What are the different types of addictions that exist?

There are mostly two types: substance addiction and process addiction.