What is considered a Polysubstance?

The use of more than one drug, also known as polysubstance use, is common. This includes when two or more are taken together or within a short time period, either intentionally or unintentionally.

What causes addiction neuroscience?

Neuroscience research has revealed that addiction is a chronic, relapsing disease of the brain triggered by repeated exposure to drugs in those who are vulnerable because of genetics and developmental or adverse social exposures.

What is the biggest cause of addiction?

Certain factors can affect the likelihood and speed of developing an addiction:

• Family history of addiction. Drug addiction is more common in some families and likely involves genetic predisposition.
• Mental health disorder.
• Peer pressure.
• Lack of family involvement.
• Early use.
• Taking a highly addictive drug.

What drug activates the reward pathway?

Just as heroin (morphine) and cocaine activate the reward pathway in the VTA and nucleus accumbens, other drugs such as nicotine and alcohol activate this pathway as well, although sometimes indirectly (point to the globus pallidus, an area activated by alcohol that connects to the reward pathway).

Why do poly addicts get so high?

Poly addicts crave a good drug synergy and this is the high they are chasing each time they use. It’s quite common for poly addicts to experiment with multiple substances to find their ideal synergism and when they find it, they often to use this combination whenever possible.

What does poly substance abuse mean?

Polysubstance Abuse: Addicted to the ‘High’ Rather Than the Drugs. Description. Polysubstance abuse (also known as Poly Drug Use or Poly-substance Dependence), occurs when a person uses 3 or more drugs without showing a particular preference to any single one of them.

What are the factors that affect the development of addiction?

Certain factors can affect the likelihood and speed of developing an addiction: 1 Family history of addiction. Drug addiction is more common in some families… 2 Mental health disorder. If you have a mental health disorder such as depression,… 3 Peer pressure. Peer pressure is a strong factor in starting to use and misuse drugs,…

What happened to polysubstance abuse dependence?

The DSM-5 eliminates the diagnosis of polysubstance abuse dependence due to how little it was used and how much it was misunderstood. “With the new threshold for substance use disorders (two or more criteria), the category became irrelevant,” the manual states. Still, polysubstance abuse is a unique form of dependency.