Historically there was incorrect information regarding cocaine, particularly prior to the 1980s when it was thought that cocaine wasn’t physically addictive but new clinical and preclinical research has sought to answer the question “Is cocaine physically addictive” with modern medical understandings of the brain and the way cocaine regulates an individual’s ability to experience pleasure.
What is Cocaine?
Today we know that cocaine is one of the most potent stimulants. It is typically used recreationally, where individuals place it on their gums or snort it through their nose after which they get a short-lived but very intense high.
But is cocaine physically addictive?
Is Cocaine Physically Addictive?
Yes, cocaine is physically addictive. Cocaine use can rather quickly lead to an addiction because of the way cocaine impacts the brain’s reward system. With regular use, cocaine will increase the levels of dopamine in your brain, which causes your brain to no longer produce otherwise normal dopamine levels associated with healthy and safe activities like good food, exercise, or sex.
This means an individual who uses cocaine repeatedly will not be able to experience that same pleasurable response from other activities other than cocaine. This change in brain structure and function means an individual is more likely to use cocaine again and again, trying to experience that same pleasure.
Cocaine Tolerance
One of the biggest problems with continued use is that physical addiction to cocaine happens very quickly.
Cocaine, unlike other drugs, can start to build a tolerance in an individual after a single use.
This means you only have to use cocaine once for your body to start developing tolerance.
When you start developing a tolerance that means that you need to use larger and larger amounts each time you use cocaine to get the same effect that you got during your previous times.
Long term this puts individuals at a serious risk for health problems as well as overdose.
Why Is Cocaine Physically Addictive?
Cocaine is physically addictive because it increases the release of dopamine in your brain with each use. Under normal circumstances your body releases dopamine as a reward when you do things that help you survive as a species like eating good food or having sex. That dopamine is typically recycled after it’s been released so you get a short-lived feeling.
With cocaine, that recycling process, called reabsorption, doesn’t happen. So, not only do you get higher than normal levels of dopamine but cocaine prevents your body from reabsorbing it which means you have excess dopamine floating around in your neural pathways creating even more intense feelings than you would get elsewhere.
This feeling of euphoria is reinforced through your tolerance which means that as you seek to replicate the same feeling you end up using more and more cocaine which furthers the damage to your reabsorption processes.
Long term these changes can make it difficult for you to feel good doing any other activity and as soon as you stop using cocaine you’ll experience withdrawal symptoms like cravings, irritability, depression, and anxiety.
Thankfully, with the right type of treatment program you can overcome the physical aspects of cocaine addiction.
Is Cocaine Physically Addictive? Learn to Overcome Addiction with The Differents
The right type of cocaine addiction treatment starts with detox to help you overcome those physical feelings of dependence. From there you’ll participate in ongoing programs that help you overcome the mental aspects of your addiction and to rebuild your brain’s natural dopamine responses.
At our facility we provide daily schedules for our residential cocaine treatment programs that emphasize a human connection, empowering you to make positive lifestyle changes and to discover your passion.
When you are able to find purpose, develop human connection, and gain direction for your life, you can find ways to cope with things like stress and trauma without resorting to addiction. With our residential programs, individuals receive one-on-one counseling and group therapy each week, participating in a variety of exercise programs like basketball, bowling, hiking, yoga, and more.
We work hard to incorporate exercise with arts and crafts, meditation and journaling time, movie nights, game nights, and other activities that give our luxury drug rehab a more well-rounded change for the mind, body, and soul.
