How Addiction Happens

Question by Jerry Roy: what are the physcological effects if you get addicted to heroin?
please be specific, this is for my research paper

Best answer:

Answer by Silver King
PHYSICAL
Heroin addiction can have multiple detrimental effects on health. MedlinePlus reports that heroin can cause miscarriages in women, heart problems and death from overdose. There are also serious health effects caused by using contaminated syringes to inject heroin, including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. According to Merck Manuals, opioid drugs, including heroin, can cause decreased rates of breathing and sedation. Merck Manuals also describe how tolerance to opioid drugs develops quickly, causing the addict to want to use more and more of the drug to feel the euphoric effects. Even after tolerance is reached, heroin causes constipation and prevents the normal contraction of pupils in response to light. Long-term effects of opioid use is minimal, though according to Merck Manuals, the addicted person may experience chronic constipation, excessive sweating, drowsiness, and decreased sexual desire. Often it is the adverse affects of injection of opioid use, such as HIV/AIDS, that will kill those addicted to heroin. Furthermore, the addicted person is susceptible to complications from overdose. Merck Manuals also describes the detrimental physical effects of substances that are added to the opiate drug, such as talc powder and stimulants.
PSYCHOLOGICAL
A large part of the addiction to heroin, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), is a psychological dependence on the effects of the drug. As an addicted person’s tolerance for the drug increases, the psychological (as well as physiological) response to the drug decreases. This causes an intense craving for more of the drug that is as psychological in nature as it is physical, according to NIDA. Heroin is a highly addictive drug, and NIDA estimates that approximately 23 percent of individuals who try heroin become dependent on it.
Besides craving, heroin addiction has other psychological effects. Those persons who are addicted to heroin experience withdrawal effects when the drug is not available. Severe restlessness, according to MedlinePlus, and delirium and combativeness, according to Merck manuals, are common psychological symptoms of heroin withdrawal.
SOCIAL
Multiple social effects of heroin addiction are also possible. Merck Manuals notes that treatment of heroin addiction is complicated by the negative social stigma against addicts. Furthermore, the compulsion to feed the addiction may lead to criminal behavior, resulting in incarceration. According to results from a study by Kora DeBeck and colleagues at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, published in the journal “Addiction” in December 2008, incarceration alone did nothing to reduce the rates of drug use among people who inject drugs, including heroin. Other social effects include isolation of the addicted person and breaking up of families.

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