Drug Addiction Reaction Paper

Drug Addiction Reaction Paper Introduction

In the text “The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, and It Is Not What You Think,” Hari (2017) focuses on the reasons of addiction, the state of unhappy people, war on drugs, the cycle of addiction, and the author lists a few recommendations to combat addiction across the world. The author believes that addicts need an emotional circle to get rid of repetitive drug habits. In other words, the feeling of belonging to a certain environment or a group of people help reduce the rate of addicted individuals in a society. In this direction, Hari analyzes whether emotional, physical, and environmental factors have drastic impacts on an individual’s combat against drugs, and concludes by highlighting the importance of human connection. In this sense, similar to Hari (2017), I also claim that the human connection is among the most effective asset against drug addiction because the addiction itself stems from loneliness and isolation.

Body Paragraphs

According to Hari (2017), rat experiments helped the understanding of the standard theory of addiction. That is, rat experiments with water and drug bottles showed some drastic impacts on the nature of addiction. One of them showed that the unhappy and isolated rat became obsessed with heroin and kept using until suicide out of overdose (Hari, 2017). In this direction, I strongly agree with the fact that addiction is highly affected by the surrounding people and environment. Also, many scholars researching on animals highlighted similar results. For instance, Sederer highlighted that addiction is about far more than a drug and is highly affected by the environment (2019). Similarly, the rat park experiment shows strong insights into the nature of addiction; thus, it can become a strong path to follow when overcoming addiction (“The Rat Park Addiction,” 2019). Furthermore, research suggested that unhappy rats consumed all drugs and became addicted to almost all experiments (Sederer, 2019). However, as the author highlighted, the environment is quite significant; although soldiers were addicted to heroin during the war, many of them could easily recover when they are back in their happy environment.

Human beings need to develop strong bonds and connections to have satisfaction with life. In my opinion, we are social creatures, dependent on each other. If we cannot connect with each other or anything, then one may easily become addicted to drugs or even gambling. In this sense, I agree with Hari (2017), as a decent environment can help overcome addiction. As research suggests, “the environmental domain contributes to the overcoming of addiction” (“4 Environmental Addiction,” 2018). Also, Kim et al. (2018) stated that family dysfunction was significantly associated with addiction, including drugs and smartphones. Similarly, Sung et al. (2013) highlight that disconnection with human beings leads to addiction, including tobacco, drugs, and gambling. Portugal, in this direction, can be considered as an example. As Hari (2015) stated when Portugal fought against drugs, the rate was quite high, but instead, when they implemented social and cultural measures to regain people in society, the rate drastically dropped. In this sense, although many believe that addiction is the outcome of continuous drug use, one can infer that a good environment and human connection help individuals overcome their addiction problems.

Reaction Paper Conclusion

In conclusion, drugs do not seem to be the drivers of the addiction. Instead, disconnection from humanity and society leads to addiction. Therefore, a constructive system needs to be found to regain addicted individuals to society. In this paper, a reaction to the short article “The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered, and It Is Not What You Think” has been presented. Accordingly, one can highlight the importance of rat experiments to understand the nature of addiction. The experiment concluded that the environment is highly critical when it comes to prevent addiction in society. Also, human beings need to develop healthy human connection to meet the need of belonging. Individuals who fail to connect with individuals tend to become addicted when compared to happy individuals, as illustrated in the rat experiment. The article also claimed that healthy relationships, the state of happiness and belonging are necessary; otherwise, individuals can easily get addicted to drugs, smartphones, or even gambling. Upon analyzing the article, after all, I also claim that the human connection is among the most effective asset against drug addiction because the addiction itself stems from loneliness and isolation.

References

4 Environmental Addiction Factors Crucial in Recovery. (2018, November 5). Psychology Today.

Hari, J. (2017, April 18). The likely cause of addiction has been discovered, and it is not what you think. HuffPost.

Kim, H., Min, J., Min, K., Lee, T., & Yoo, S. (2018). Relationship among family environment, self-control, friendship quality, and adolescents’ smartphone addiction in South Korea: Findings from nationwide data. PLOS ONE, 13(2), e0190896.

The Rat Park Addiction Experiment. (2019, April 6). Healing Properties.

Sederer, L. (2019, June 10). What does “Rat Park” teach us about addiction? Psychiatric Times.

Sung, J., Lee, J., Noh, H., Park, Y. S., & Ahn, E. J. (2013). Associations between the risk of internet addiction and problem behaviors among Korean adolescents. Korean Journal of Family Medicine, 34(2), 115.