Please provide information on addiction in the life of a Christian!

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Addictions and the Brain: Life in Abundance. We did a series of six talks on Life in Abundance with addiction as one area of concern. Our salvation lies in being addicted to Jesus! 1 Cor. 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” We need to be sure to fill our lives with the right stuff to prevent an emptiness to occur where it should ideally be filled with God. Matt. 12:43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”” Tit. 3:3”For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us,…” Most of us are aware of or even know somebody who struggled with some form of addiction. The problem seems to be, that we don’t view it as all that important when it is not a direct family member or friend. The reality remains though, that over time, all of us will know somebody with a serious addiction. In the 1930s, scientists started to evaluate addictive behaviour, and the initial evaluation concluded that addicts lacked willpower as well as having a moral problem. This formed the attitude of society for decades. It was viewed and approached as a moral failure, and it was not considered a health problem. In the early day, retribution was emphasized instead of finding ways how to prevent or solve the problem. It was seen as delinquent behaviour, and it was mostly managed by the criminal justice system. Once the physiology and chemistry of addiction became better understood, coming to the realisation that compulsive use of medication was a form of behaviour, and that you may then have an addictive personality, the attitude towards intervention changed. Addiction in 2018 in America to alcohol, nicotine, illegal, or prescription drugs costs the American system $700 billion each year. Tabaco causes 480 000 American deaths per year, and other drugs about 90 000 deaths. People of all ages suffer because of the misuse of drugs and suffer from some form of addiction. Here is a little information and a lot of truth about the issue: • Babies are exposed via the placenta and they are underweight and born prematurely and it is especially reflected in the fetal alcohol syndrome. This may lead to life long intellectual and behaviour problems. • Teens do poorly at school, drop out from the system not reaching their potential. There is also a prevalence of unplanned pregnancies, STD’s and association of violence around drugs. • Adult’s potential will on all levels be decreased in behaviour, intelligence and physical health. • Parents with children suffering from addiction is aware of turbulence in the family, loss of property, stress and ongoing conflict. The modern definition of addiction reads as follows: “Chronic brain disease with relapses with a compulsive seeking of these drugs regardless of the known health risks.” Reasons why people partake of addictive drugs: • To just feel good. These drugs work in the area of the brain where stimulation gives intense pleasure via dopamine. They when taking the drug have this intense high, feel great, feel in control, full of confidence as with cocaine or opioids like heroin. It gives an intense euphoric reaction followed by relaxation and total satisfaction. • To basically feel better. People suffering from social anxiety may see this as an option to decrease stress during certain activities. They try to avoid the feelings of stress associated with specific social interactions especially if the individual lacks certain social skills. • To improve performance although it may be a perceived improvement by the user not experienced by the people engaging with the user. We now also arrive at the use of stimulants or anabolic steroids to improve performance in sports. Remember the scandal with the whole Russian Olympic team or the Tour de France en Lance Armstrong. • Peer pressure or wanting to feel how it feels not realizing the addictive risk of certain drugs used. This happens in the teenager group as they want to be part of the group not feeling that they are an outsider. The feeling good, the feeling better and the euphoria dwindle quickly that leads to the person requiring the ongoing use of the drug to just feel normal. Even social use of alcohol may impact on your reflexes, which adds to the risk of causing or landing in a motor accident. This may cause lives as well as an unwanted encounter with the strong arm of the law. Is the ongoing use of drugs a voluntary choice? Only the initial use is totally voluntary while the ongoing use of the drug hampers the ability to make sound choices. This means that the possibility of voluntary control lessens, regardless of the fact that the user knows about the risks. As tolerance develops in the body, they are pushed to increase the dose over time. Scientists believe that the use of drugs permanently alters the area of the brain where judgment takes place, the area where decisions are made, and where conduct is regulated. This may explain the destructive and compulsive selfish behaviour of some addicts. Certain factors increase one’s risk of addiction: • Aggressive behaviour during childhood. • Poor parental care. • Poor social skills. • Personality experimenting with drugs. • Availability of addictive drugs in the school environment. In community with low social standing. Certain factors protect: • Good self control. • Parent involvement. • Positive relationships. • Academic excellence. • School with rules. • Suburbs with an attitude of being proud of who they are. There are also biological factors to increase the risk like: Genetically prone, in teenagers, and in patients with other established psychiatric disorders. The earlier exposure occurs towards an addictive substance, the higher the chance that this will not be habit-forming but biological dependence will occur. The drugs smoked and injected, have a higher addictive risk because of the concentrations reached in the brain compared to something swallowed. The brain basically consists of: • Brainstem where basic vital functions like blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing is regulated. • Cerebral cortex where the higher function is controlled as well as sensory and motor modalities. The frontal cortex is where thought processes, reasoning, problem-solving, and choices are regulated. • The limbic system where the reward system is situated. Pleasure is experienced here and therefore where the feeling is experienced. You activate this when enjoying a meal, drinking something nice, and socialising that feels great and motivates to repeat that what was great. Emotions one experiences come from here and drugs working on mood are active here. To experience pleasure, stimulation occurs in the brain, and dopamine is released for the experience of pleasure. Over-stimulation creates euphoria, which invariably leads to the need for the feeling to be repeated that causes a high risk of addiction. These ‘nice’ episodes with dopamine, will increase by 2-10 times with the aid of addictive drugs, and the higher the pleasure peak, the higher the risk of addiction. With overstimulation, the body tries to neutralize the abnormality in two ways: • It lowers its own endogenous dopamine production. • It lowers the number of dopamine receptors. As the body’s own dopamine production is lessened, it needs the use something to feel normal again. With fewer receptors to respond to dopamine, the need for higher and higher dosages of substances arrives that may eventually lead to supranormal dosages. This leads to a very high risk of eventual overdose, and even death. Take your mind to a few of the Hollywood elite who was found dead after playing with substance us that lead to abuse in the end. Besides the risk of eventual death, there are also other medical risks: • CVS disease • CVA • Ca • HIV/AIDS • Hep B&C • Lung disease • Mental dysfunction Special effects of the more well-known drugs: • Nicotine is a stimulating product but very addictive and chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and Ca lung. Also, it increases your risk of stroke and heart attacks. • Alcohol with effects on brain, heart, gut, and liver. • Marijuana with the risk of schizophrenia and paranoia. Addiction remains very dangerous and could be managed, but not all individuals involved regain control of their lives again. Relapse episodes are seen as part of the rehab process. It should be managed by professionals and it may require medication and behavioral therapy. Dedicated rehabilitation units are available but need to be accredited as desperate parents and families are at risk to be abused by fly by night organisations. You may think that you are immune. Let me then pose this question: Have you heard of: • Workaholic? • Chocoholic? • Sexaholic? • Shopaholic? This should alert all of us to certain behaviours that could be addictions. Just consider the electronic media with smartphones, the internet, Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, and others. Everything that interferes with a normal lifestyle one is unable to be without is a problem. Yes, even exercising may be an addiction. Add to that, sugar, carbs, and other foods as a group. Most of us truly need some form of intervention. We all need balance. John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Each one of us is born with a vacuum in our lives, space you need to fill. The only safe substance is filling our lives with God as this will protect you, providing us with a built-in GPS to guide our lives in an acceptable manner to Him. Matt. 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”