What changes in the brain occur when someone consumes drugs?
The "reward circuit" in the brain is affected by the majority of drugs, which causes pleasure and fills the brain with the chemical messenger dopamine. A person is motivated to repeat behaviours necessary for flourishing, such as eating and spending time with loved ones, by a well-functioning reward system. The reinforcement of behaviours that are pleasurable but hazardous, like as drug use, is brought on by dopamine surges that take place in the reward circuit. Individuals then repeat the behaviour as a result of this.
The reward circuit's cells' ability to respond to stimuli will become less sensitive if a person uses drugs over time. As long as the person uses drugs, this will continue to occur. The impact of this occurrence, known as tolerance, is to reduce the high the person feels in contrast to the high they had when they first took the drug. By ingesting more of the chemical, they might attempt to get the same high. Due to these brain changes, the person frequently discovers that they are unable to enjoy other activities that they used to like, such as eating, engaging in sexual activity, or participating in social activities.
A range of cognitive and behavioural functions, including learning, judgement, decision-making, stress, memory, and behaviour, can be affected by long-term use through altering other chemical systems and circuits in the brain. Many drug users continue to take drugs despite being aware of the possible drawbacks of their behaviour since addiction is a nature of the disease.