The title of the infographic is, Thinking Critically About: Tolerance and Addiction
The Learning Objective Question reads, What roles do tolerance and addition play in substance use disorders, and how has the concept of addiction changed?
The first panel heading reads, Tolerance. Text reads, With continued use of alcohol and some other drugs (but not marijuana), users develop tolerance as their brain chemistry adapts to offset the drug effect (neuroadaptation). To experience the same effect, users require larger and larger doses, which increase the risk of becoming addicted and developing a substance use disorder. An illustration shows a man who rarely drinks sitting unsteadily on a chair, and another illustration shows a man who frequently drinks standing steadily. These two illustrations flank a graph that plots drug effect (little to big) on the vertical axis against drug dose (small to large) on the horizontal axis. The graph has two linearly increasing curves. The first curve (starting at the small drug dose and ending at a big drug effect) represents response to first exposure, and the next curve (starting farther along the horizontal axis toward the larger drug dose and ending at a big drug effect) shows the effect after repeated exposure, when more drug is needed to produce the same effect.
The second panel heading reads, Addiction. Text reads, Caused by ever-increasing doses of most psychoactive drugs (including prescription painkillers). Prompts user to crave the drug, to continue use despite adverse consequences, and to struggle when attempting to withdraw from it. These behaviors suggest a substance use disorder. Once in the grip of addiction, people want the drug more than they like the drug. (Footnote 1: Berridge et al., 2009.) Therapy or group support, such as from Alcoholics Anonymous, may help. It also helps to believe that addictions are controllable and that people can change. Many people do voluntarily stop using addictive drugs, without any treatment. An illustration of a cigarette tied into a knot accompanies this text. Most ex-smokers have kicked the habit on their own. (Footnote 4: Newport, 2013b.) An illustration of a globe corresponds with text that reads, About 4 percent of the world’s people have an alcohol use disorder. (Footnote 2: WHO, 2014b.) Another illustration depicts the lifetime odds of getting hooked after using various drugs as follows: Marijuana 9 percent; Cocaine 21 percent; Alcohol 23 percent, and Tobacco 68 percent. (Footnote 3: Lopez-Quintero et al., 2011.)
The third panel heading reads, Behavior Addictions. Text reads, Psychologists try to avoid using open quotes addiction close quotes to label driven, excessive behaviors such as eating, work, sex, and accumulating wealth. An illustration shows a child eating a burger in one hand while his other hand is on top of a stack of cheeseburgers. The child says, I am addicted to cheeseburgers! Text continues, Psychological and drug therapies may be open quotes highly effective close quotes for problematic internet use. (Footnote 8: Winkler et al., 2013.) Image of two pills.
In this Behavior Addictions section a textbox reads, Yet some behaviors can become compulsive and dysfunctional—similar to problematic alcohol and drug use. (Footnote 5: Gentile, 2009; Griffiths, 2001; Hoeft et al., 2008.)
A bulleted list begins.
Bullet item 1 text reads, Behavior addictions include gambling disorder.
Bullet item 2 text reads, Internet gaming disorder has been proposed for further study. (Footnote 6: American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Wittek et al., 2016; Wu et al., 2016.) Some internet users display an apparent inability to resist logging on and staying on, even when this excessive use impairs their work and relationships. (Footnote 7: Cheng & Li, 2014; Ko et al., 2005.)