The Study

Published in an issue of JAMA Psychiatry, the study uses detailed imaging to show how a small dose of Ritalin helps to normalize the brain's nerve pathways damaged by cocaine use.

Although, Ritalin is primarily known for treating attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), this may give it another use.

How Was the Study Performed?

18 cocaine addicted subjects were each given either a single dose of Ritalin or a placebo. Then, they were each given an MRI brain scan to measure the level of connectivity between brain circuits known to be associated with addiction.

Ritalin, when administered orally, increases dopamine-as does cocaine-but without the addictive component.

Is Ritalin an Appropriate Medication to Give Recovering Addicts?

Yes, Ritalin shows signs of strengthening connections damaged by cocaine use. In fact, it improves connectivity in areas that affect habits, cravings, and compulsive drug seeking. But, it is also widely abused and addictive. Arguably, it could be an issue of trading one addiction for another.

However, the study addressed this. The risk of developing an addiction is low because a single dose causes an affect and subsequent doses can be lowered.

2: Common Traits of Cocaine Addicts You Should Be on the Lookout For

 It isn't necessarily possible to identify a cocaine addict based on a list of behaviors because each addiction is somewhat different. About the only way you know for certain is if you see the person is unable to control their cocaine use. However, exploring typical signs of cocaine addiction can allow you to identify causes for alarm and these can enable you to justify investigating further.

Cocaine Use

Cocaine isn't a small problem, so you may be completely correct when you begin piecing things together and find the signs of addiction. According to data published by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 17.10 percent of adults age 26 and older reported using cocaine in their lifetime.

That's almost two out of every ten people. And that doesn't even count crack cocaine, which has been used within their lifetime by 4.30 percent of the same group.

They Lie

Addicts face what is termed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse as a "a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences."

Compulsive use can't be regulated, but life doesn't allow for chronic drug use. The only solution is for the drug user to lie about their cocaine use. They have likely lied to themselves and they genuinely believe that no one can see behind the lies and identify a problem. But, when you don't understand what you are being told or you get conflicting reports, you are probably being lied to.

They Are Violating Their Value System

In order to keep getting drugs, addicts have to engage in a lot of questionable behavior and they will still keep using nonetheless. If someone you love is suddenly exhibiting behavior that they previously would have derided, something is going on. You need to determine whether or not the change is due to cocaine addiction.

They Shift the Blame

Are you being held accountable for the person's changing behavior or lies? Addicts work very hard and very quickly to divert attention away from them and their cocaine use. They know that people can only remain in denial if they don't look to closely. Don't let yourself change your focus.

3: Why Do I Stay with the Cocaine Addict in

My Life?

You have probably asked yourself why you stay so many times that the question doesn't seem to have a meaning anymore. When you love someone whose primary concern is getting and using cocaine, you will wonder what the relationship is offering you. Are you chasing what the relation could be or trying to maintain what it used to be? Have you tried leaving and ultimatums and begging? They don't work, do they?

And cocaine use isn't uncommon; you aren't alone. In 2014, as reported by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, roughly 913,000 people in the US met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria for dependence or abuse of cocaine (in any form) during the previous year.

Stage One

When you began flirting and dating, the person you loved probably wasn't a cocaine addict. Maybe the two od you began using together (and you still feel guilty about it). But, the times before the drugs took over were fantastic. Maybe they were using, but the early stages of attraction were so consuming that they could hide the addiction. And, you were probably so swept up you wouldn't notice it anyway.

Stage one is marked by minimal drug use and major infatuation. You might be hearing excuses and lies for the first time and you trust them because it hasn't become a pattern.

Stage Two

This is the period where you begin to understand how bad things are. Your loved one's behavior is growing more erratic. But stage one is still in your mind and heart and you really think things will go back to what they were. However, you are starting to ask tougher questions and to look deeper for inconsistencies.

Stage Three

You will become codependent at this stage. If you have not left, you will be making excuses and picking up slack for your partner. You are enabling them to keep using, but you feel like they will get clean or go back to the person you used to know if you just work hard enough to make things feel normal.

You may even face medical emergencies that force you to literally take care of your partner. In 2011, the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) report showed that cocaine was involved in over a third of the total number of visits to the emergency department visits for drug abuse.

Things aren't going to change until you establish boundaries. If that means leaving, you need to. You aren't alone. When you reach out, you will be surprised how many people have been waiting to help you leave.