Abstract
Objectives: Humans, with their unique genetic profile, exhibit a greater propensity to develop and maintain addiction compared to other animals. This paper offers a detailed examination of addiction, co-occurring traits, and psychologic disorders, focusing on neurobiological and molecular aspects. Furthermore, the authors investigate the potential of the Awareness Integration Theoretical model as an effective therapeutic addiction treatment.
Methods: Using PsychINFO, PubMed, and Google Scholar, a comprehensive literature review was conducted on the evolutionary and adaptation pathways to addiction, epigenetic factors, and the potentiality of Awareness Integration Theory in treating addiction.
Results: Epigenetics allows environmental factors to create lasting and heritable phenotypic changes, enabling rapid adaptation to these stimuli. Addiction “high-jacks” this system and the neurochemical mechanisms that control flexibility and innovation and is, thus, the price we pay for adaptability. Drug addiction is thought of as an adjunctive behavior or a subordinate behavior catalyzed by more profound, more significant psychological and biological stimuli.
Conclusions: The neurochemical mechanisms underlying addiction, a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors, are intertwined with the hallmark features of the human species, such as behavioral flexibility and pre-addictive propensity. The dopaminergic system, a key player in addiction, serves as a crucial link between addiction and the shared genetic profile evident in co-occurring traits and psychiatric and psychological disorders. Furthermore, a hypofunctioning dopaminergic system is a common characteristic of addiction and co-occurring psychiatric and psychological disorders. Early childhood preventative measures are vital in re-directing the existing predictive and poor adaptability functioning, which refers to the individual's inability to adapt to changing circumstances and reliance on maladaptive coping strategies. Awareness Integration Theory’s approach encompasses a therapeutical model addressing individuals' physical, cognitive, and psychosocial domains, allowing the individual to address intergenerational and ancestral ineffective and harmful adaptability. This, in turn, AIT will allow the human genome to be on a healthier path to recovery from obstacles such as addiction. When a tendency or a characteristic improves your ability to function and survive, and especially your ability to produce and raise children, that will most likely break the cycle of addiction and addictive behavior.