Stephen King famously struggled with cocaine addiction—even at his most productive and lucrative career points. One of his entertaining debut films, Overdrive, is a great example of the brain on cocaine: fast, hyped up, and disjointed. Although King quit using cocaine in the late 1980s, he has shared some of the consequences of his use, particularly in the areas of memory/cognition and family relationships. 

At St. Joseph Institute for Addiction in Pennsylvania, our team of healthcare professionals and clinical therapists understand the neurobiology, development, and manifestation of cocaine addiction. If you or someone you know is dealing with a cocaine dependence that you fear may be heading toward an addiction, seek out treatment at our Port Matilda residency program. We can help. 

A Look Inside The Neurobiology of Cocaine Addiction

From a brain chemistry standpoint, cocaine affects the brain’s limbic system, which regulates our feelings of pleasure and motivation. When someone snorts, smokes, or injects cocaine into their body, the brain immediately experiences euphoria due to a flood of dopamine. This rush of “pleasure hormones” almost instantly suggests to your brain that you should use cocaine again, and again, and again. 

As time passes and cocaine consumption becomes more habitual, dopamine molecules in your brain are constantly in action. Therefore, the brain cells that receive dopamine have no opportunity to rest or rebuild. Over time, cocaine seems to disable entire neural circuits that have been centuries in the evolutionary making, severely compromising the brain’s natural responses to stimuli.

Others have compared cocaine’s release of a perpetual, heavy flood of dopamine to a natural disaster in the brain. That saturation causes your cells to drown, seize up, and stop talking to one another, leading to seizures and brain damage in some cases.

Once the brain becomes completely dependent on cocaine, an addiction forms, just as it would with any other substance or behavior, and the person dealing with the substance use disorder (SUD) is then caught in a tense loop of getting high, feeling painful withdrawal symptoms when the drug leaves their system, and searching for more cocaine to provide relief. 

It’s also important to understand that long-term cocaine addiction can have permanent neurobiological effects, triggering cravings more aggressively and further into the future than other substances. This is why it’s so important that you or your loved one seek help immediately. Reach out to our team for an assessment.  

The Psychological and Physical Elements of a Cocaine Addiction 

The first stage of cocaine addiction is its repeated use paired with an irritated, depressed, or aggressive mood as it leaves the body. You or your loved one’s sense of overall well-being may plummet as soon as cocaine levels run their course. Withdrawal triggers all sorts of anxious, aggressive, or seemingly uncharacteristic behaviors and thoughts until cocaine can be consumed again. 

Eventually, tolerance forms, and it takes more cocaine to get high while the comedown produces an increasingly worse mood swing. A host of other illnesses and disorders can develop along with a deepening cocaine addiction, but many people commonly see noticeable or alarming drops in weight or overall physical health with time. Other signs of a fully developed or worsening cocaine addiction include:

• Inability to focus
• Spikes in impulse control loss
• A failing memory
• An inability to make choices that involve weighing rewards and consequences
• Performing motor tasks or making intentional movements of the body (Parkinson’s disease can often develop in people who regularly use cocaine for long periods)

The withdrawal cycle then repeats, and more negative consequences begin to surface while any feelings of euphoria or productivity seem to fade away. As we see with Stephen King’s example, people on cocaine may seem confident, more energetic, and more active or productive with initial use. However, over time, cocaine use makes a person look and feel scattered, frustrated, disorganized, incoherent, dangerous, malnourished, or erratic. 

Enter Treatment For Cocaine with St. Joseph Institute For Addiction

Overcoming cocaine addiction doesn’t have to be a horror story. Contact us today to learn more about how cocaine addiction affects you and your family—along with the best methods of treating it. Our facility can support you with expert professionals, powerful healthcare resources, and full assistance in fighting cocaine addiction and abuse.