What Causes Addiction?

Addiction to drugs and alcohol results in a substantial amount of deaths and is cause for concern. You may wonder — what causes addiction? Addiction is somewhat of a mystery, even to those who are going through a substance abuse problem.

If you’re in this situation, you may wonder about the reasons for your predicament, because on the one hand, you want to quit. Yet, on the other hand, you find it so challenging. What causes addiction, and why is it so complicated to break free? Let’s take a closer look.

What Does It Mean to Be Addicted?

Addiction is a disease that originates in the brain and you to keep using drugs even when it causes many problems and distress. It also results in physical withdrawal if you try to stop using the drug abruptly.

Addiction is facilitated when you begin using a substance that stimulates the reward center of the brain. You fall into a cycle that is difficult to get out of without licensed addiction treatment.

What Causes Addiction?

As you wonder about the causes of addiction, you may have different thoughts that come to mind. It’s easy to cast blame on the person who is trapped in the cycle of addiction, but it’s crucial to understand how addiction works before doing so. However, addiction may be caused by any of the following:

  • Unresolved emotional issues that stem from past trauma could lead you to start using drugs. This is an attempt to numb the pain.
  • You may feel pressured by friends to begin doing drugs, and then become addicted.
  • If you have any undiagnosed mental health conditions, it can lead to substance abuse as a way to self-medicate.
  • Gateway drugs, such as prescription medication or marijuana, sometimes lead to harder drugs and addiction.

Individuals can quickly develop not only psychological attachments to drugs, but people also have physical connections to drugs. As noted above, the brain gets a “reward” or a good feeling when doing drugs, which leads you to want to do more.

Results of Addiction

Before you become addicted, you will likely follow a certain set of steps. Addiction doesn’t just happen overnight. First, you will become used to or develop a tolerance to whatever drug you were taking. This means you’ll need more of it to feel the effects. Taking more can result in the danger of overdosing.

In addition, as you continue taking higher doses, your risk for severe withdrawal rises if you were to stop. During this time, you are doing damage to your physical and mental health.

Drug addiction and overdoses are quite prevalent in the United States. In fact, “67,367 people died from a drug overdose in 2018” according to data from the CDC.

Find Healing From Addiction at Renaissance Recovery

The first step in healing from addiction is to get detox from the chemical toxins that are in your body. As you move forward through drug detox, you can also participate in therapy to get to the root cause of why you abuse drugs and how to prevent relapse.

Some of the treatment programs include:

Find help for your addiction at Renaissance Recovery. Through our customized treatment program, we will create a plan that is best for your needs.

Start the admissions process by connecting with Renaissance Recovery’s professionally trained addiction treatment staff. They will provide you with an evaluation and get you started with a treatment plan. No matter what substance you’re dealing with, you can count on our evidence-based programs to get the job done.

Don’t let drug or alcohol addiction ruin your future peace in life. Now that you know more about the causes of addiction, seek treatment at a quality addiction treatment center. Contact Renaissance Recovery at 866.330.9449. We’ll help you get on the pathway to healing.


Renaissance Recovery provides a structured, supportive, family-based environment for clients to grow and develop healthy habits and life skills. In addition, clients learn the coping mechanisms needed to lead and support a functional and successful lifestyle—sober. We are a long-term, solution-based addiction treatment center, where client recovery is our top priority. We provide a multitude of addiction treatment programs in California that provide the necessary support for long-term addiction recovery including: