Alcohol and Drug Dependence: Effect on Brain Functionality

The topic of the biology of addiction will be thoroughly covered while you attend the Austin drug rehab and alcohol rehab center Spirit Lodge as you participate in the Living in Balance portion of the recovery program.

Actual brain scans will be presented to you to assist in your understanding of the effect that drugs have on the brain and the brain neurotransmitters. You will also learn that the amygdala of the brain of an addict is activated when memories of substances of abuse arise via visual methods, smells, tastes and sounds.

Medical tests have proven that the areas of the brain that are affected by memories of certain drugs are not activated by other types exposures, showing the separate reactions in the brain that occur with drug and alcohol memories.

You will be helped to understand the changes that are caused by drug abuse and alcohol abuse and the length of time that these changes in the brain remain after the use of drugs and alcohol has ended.

Substances Abuse Addiction: Temporary and Long-Term Harm to the Brain

Various substances of abuse can both affect and harm the brain, creating a need for the brain to heal itself with the passage of time as you recover from a substance abuse addiction. You will also learn that the fastest way for a drug to reach the brain is through smoke entering the lungs, rather than through injection or by snorting a drug.

At this point in your Living in Balance addiction treatment program at Spirit Lodge, you will also have learned that the level of neurotransmitters in the brain can be affected in different ways by different types of drug abuse.

You will have learned about the families of drugs such as sedative-hypnotic drugs, psychedelic drugs, stimulant drugs and depressant drugs and how these different types of drugs can create differing physical, mental and emotional effects in each drug addict or alcoholic.

Supportive, experienced counselors, who regularly help guests from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, California, New York and Florida, will work closely with you to assist you in ending your drug dependence or alcohol dependence as you participate in your addiction recovery program in the comfortable environment provided by Spirit Lodge.