Drug addiction are chemical substances that can alter how your brain is wired, changing how your body works. These general substances include but aren’t limited to prescription drugs, over-the-counter medicines, tobacco, nicotine, alcohol, and illegal drugs.
Medicines are legal drugs prescribed by doctors to patients to buy these in the nearest pharmacy. With the guidance of a physician, taking drugs can help alleviate symptoms and even treat an array of diseases so people can recover and lead productive lives.
The Difference Between Drug Abuse And Drug Addiction
Drug addiction– While both substance abuse and addiction are used interchangeably, these two terms are different. Substance abuse is the overuse and misuse of drugs for non-therapeutic purposes.
For instance, taking larger doses than what the patient is supposed to or using such addictive substances for recreational purposes is considered drug abuse.
While this practice is detrimental to one’s health, substance abuse may or may not escalate into addiction. Substance abuse is the milder, earlier form of harmful drug use that can stand without addiction. These people misuse substances but still have control over their consumption.
Drug addiction– Many people still don’t understand why people attempt to misuse and play around with drugs. Some of these individuals might be going through an experimental phase where they take drugs to experience euphoria, but they’d stop using these substances over time.
Although substance abuse doesn’t immediately result in addiction, people should still avoid misusing drugs. The initial action might be an experimental or voluntary choice; however, repeated misuse can interfere with the person’s ability to resist the urge over when or how to use drugs.
Drug addiction– There are also some strong substances that make people feel addictive even after taking the drug once. Regular use of these addictive drugs can escalate into addiction. Over time, the brain craves the pleasure produced by these harmful substances, resulting in compulsive consumption to experience the same high feeling.
Drug addiction is more severe and complicated than drug abuse. It’s diagnosed as a complex brain illness that compels sufferers to perform sorts of things to feed their impulses.
When the person becomes addicted to these substances, they lose control over their consumption. Over time, the body develops dependence and tolerance to the drug, which would motivate the person to take more to experience the same pleasurable feeling.
The Importance Of Seeking Treatment
Drug addiction– While substance abuse isn’t yet diagnosed as addiction, it’s necessary to recognize the difference between both terms. Knowledge about this can help you encourage the person to seek professional help and treatment before this recreational habit escalates into a full-blown addiction.
Drug addiction– Because of the danger posed by this chronic illness, people are sent to rehabilitation centers and group therapy. These treatment areas are designed to help addicts change their compulsive habits, understand how these behaviors are hurting their relationships, create solutions to help address chances for relapse, and recover so they can lead productive lives.
For instance, if your loved one has become addicted to using Fentanyl, a medication that’s taken to manage chronic pain, they can be admitted to a fentanyl addiction treatment from Jackson House Rehab and other similar centers. With the aid of these services, your loved one can receive adequate monitoring to break the cycle and support sobriety.
Besides medication, mental health counseling can also help sufferers overcome the disorder. Take note that the challenges that come with drug abuse are often manageable compared to dealing with the consequences of addiction.
Some Warning Signs Of Drug Misuse
If someone is misusing drugs for whatever reason, you might notice physical changes. For instance, long-term drug misuse can result in drastic changes to one’s appearance. It can turn to visible and sudden weight changes due to the effects of drugs on the body.
Some drugs can disrupt one’s appetite or make people lose interest in taking care of themselves, including making healthy eating choices. Other people also have red or puffy eyes, slurred speech, frequent bloody nose, cough a lot, and among others.
In addition to these, behavioral changes can also affect their occupational and social functioning. Once the drug loses its effect, sufferers have fever, experience migraines, become shaky, and the like. Since they would feel strange about not using drugs, they’d continue to buy such despite the implications that come with it.
In turn, the sufferer might experience financial problems due to this chronic use. According to a Web MD article, people might even go to great lengths, such as borrowing or stealing money, to purchase drugs and soothe these negative feelings.
Drug addiction–can significantly affect performance at work. Sufferers might lose interest in their job, have trouble concentrating, become irritable, moody, and tend to sleep a lot. Eventually, they might stop showing up for work which can lead to job loss.
On the other hand, teenagers who misuse drugs might usually be in trouble at school. As mentioned, people can become cranky and irritable when using such harmful substances.
Drug addiction– Petty misunderstandings in class might trigger them to get into a fight with their peers. Drugs can make people feel invincible, making dangerous risks without considering their huge impact.
Drug Addiction 101
Drug addiction is a broad and complex topic highly researched because of its detrimental and direct consequences. Whether or not you know someone who suffers from addiction, knowing more about it enlightens you so you can extend compassion to people and fight the stigma against addiction:
1. Anyone Can Be At Risk
Drug addiction isn’t a weakness of spirit; it’s a mental health illness that affects people regardless of race, geography, occupation, social status, or education.
Misguided drug use can become a frequent, recreational activity that can lead to addiction. For instance, this habit might have simply begun when an individual received medication to manage and treat chronic pain.
It can also be due to a roommate who frequently takes drugs to escape from daily life stressors. Hanging around with peers who misuse drugs may most likely encourage people to practice the same.
Peer pressure or the desire to fit into a social circle can compel teenagers to try recreational drugs and become accustomed to the feeling, leading to abuse then addiction.
Unfortunately, even after someone stopped misusing drugs, moved out from their friend’s place, or hasn’t met them in a while, there are chances that they could go back to the same habit.
It’s because dopamine starts to identify and link pleasurable feelings with drug misuse. These memories are called conditioned associations, making addiction more ingrained in them.
When a person goes to places, encounters people, or similar things that remind them of the same rewarding experience, these memories flood their brain with dopamine.
In turn, this can trigger the need to crave and chase the same high. Since the brain is programmed to repeat pleasurable experiences, they’ll become motivated to repeat this compulsive behavior.
2. Experimentation Affects Development
Since the teenage brain is still developing and is still malleable, misuse of drugs can affect its normal growth. According to the US National Library of Medicine research, the maturing teenage brain is more susceptible to the stress and acute effects of drug misuse. All these can radically alter the brain as the person grows and becomes an adult.
In the United States, adults age 21 and older can buy legal drugs, including alcohol and tobacco products. Excessive drinking and smoking aren’t healthy.
Unfortunately, the social acceptance of drinking and smoking among people, including underage individuals, has led society to think that these substances are harmless.
Teenage drug abuse can have long-term cognitive and behavioral effects. Later on, these people can become more vulnerable to reckless behavior and compulsive drug consumption.
On top of this, long-term drug use can change the brain circuits, influencing memory, decision-making, judgment, and more. These potential effects can destroy a person’s life.
3. Causes Can Vary
On top of peer pressure or low self-esteem, there are other reasons people have chosen to consider taking drugs. For instance, some teens experiment on street drugs out of curiosity or boredom.
On the other hand, others may experiment freely on recreational drugs due to easy accessibility in the family. If the parents suffer from addiction, children will find it normal to use and misuse drugs.
Parental abuse or neglect coupled with constant exposure can lead them to take drugs to escape from daily stressors.
It’s crucial to spot early signs of drug abuse to stop this bad habit and redeem control over their consumption. Suppose you have younger siblings or friends, know and understand why they’ve chosen to experiment on drugs in the first place.
Identifying the reasons behind this can help you create and introduce alternative and healthier coping strategies to deal with their struggles.
4. Addiction Is Not A Choice
Drug addiction has destroyed families, caused missed career opportunities, and led people into engaging in various risky activities.
While drug addicts can be dismissed and shamed for such waste, this disorder isn’t a choice. Instead, it’s a chronic disease that changes one’s brain chemistry, leading to uncontrollable behavior to take drugs.
Like how comfort food can make people feel, drugs can target the same pleasure circuit in one’s brain. Taking these substances prompts the brain to release dopamine, a chemical messenger, which increases the feeling of satisfaction.
Increased dopamine can reinforce this harmful behavior. In turn, this can overpower the instinct for moderation, which results in a cycle of compulsion.
When your brain is altered and rewired to see these behaviors as rewarding, addiction becomes uncontrollable, leading people with no choice. Despite being aware of the consequences, they couldn’t stop using drugs. It’s the nature of addiction that makes quitting difficult.
5. Relapses Are Common During Treatment
Once someone has become addicted to drugs, it can be difficult to stop taking these. Going cold turkey can result in withdrawal symptoms, such as tremors, vomiting, nausea, sweating, and even hallucinations. These feelings can continue during the treatment process, discouraging sufferers and leading them to take drugs again.
A Drug addiction chronic brain illness is characterized by periods of relapse. It’s a part of the process when people undergo treatment. Hence, cycles of relapse are normal and expected.
This relapse isn’t a sign of treatment inefficacy; rather, this can be used as an opportunity to create healthy coping mechanisms to address the relapse. It can also indicate checking and modifying the treatment program to cater to the patient’s changing needs.
Similar to treating physical illnesses, treatment shouldn’t be rigid or linear. At times, unresponsiveness can be a sign to change the treatment plan entirely and tailor it accordingly.
Moreover, Drug addiction relapse doesn’t imply that there’s no hope. Staying clean is challenging but is possible. By sticking to one’s treatment program and cooperating with the physician, sufferers can progress toward recovery and overcome addiction.
Break The Stigma
Drug addiction can be dismissed for their behavior, but this lack of control isn’t simply the way they want to. Like suffering from any kind of mental health condition, drug addiction isn’t a character flaw or a lack of discipline. It’s a complex mental illness that alters one’s brain chemistry.
The stigma surrounding drug addiction is the reason people don’t seek professional aid. They internalize this fear, feeling the shame and blame for such illness. Unfortunately, refusal to receive treatment can worsen the problem, contributing to the vicious cycle that makes quitting more difficult.
Drug addiction Lack of knowledge contributes to societal stigma. Hence, it’s important to read and expose yourself to various learning avenues so you can do your part in addressing this stigma.
This knowledge allows you to teach others to extend empathy toward people who are suffering from drug addiction. In turn, this collective compassion might encourage them to seek professional aid and overcome the sickness.
Moreover, Drug addiction parents shouldn’t lash out at teenagers if they’ve come clean about misusing drugs. Teens who feel supported as they open about their problems will most likely become receptive to aid and medication so they can stop using drugs.
The Takeaway
Drug addiction is a complex brain disorder that can affect nearly anyone. While this illness can be serious, posing risks and consequences to the person, becoming drug-free is still possible.
Suppose your loved one is suffering from this disease; support and encourage them to seek treatment. Take note that the earlier a person gets treatment for drug addiction, the more likely they’ll be able to gain back control, avoid its harmful consequences, and lead successful lives.