Who’s Most Likely to Become Addicted? Each person’s body and brain are different. People also react differently to drugs. Some love the feeling the first time they try it and want more. Others hate it and never try again.
The "reward circuit" of the brain is affected by most drugs, which elicit pleasure and flood the brain with the chemical messenger dopamine. A person is motivated to repeat actions necessary for survival, such as eating and spending time with loved ones, when a reward system is working effectively. Dopamine rushes in the reward circuit encourage enjoyable but harmful behaviours like drug use, encouraging users to keep engaging in the action.
Like treatment for other chronic conditions like diabetes, asthma or heart disease therapy for drug addiction is not a cure. Addiction can be curable and managed. Addiction recovery is possible, but people who have been through it are vulnerable to relapse over the course of their lives. Research has shown that people who combine addiction treatment with behavioural therapy have the best chance at recovery. Long-term recovery is possible with treatment options that are tailored to each individual's drug usage patterns and co-occurring social, mental, or physical issues.