Information about Drug Addiction
Drug Addiction
No one wants to become a drug addict or an alcoholic, but this doesn’t stop people from getting addicted. The most commonly asked question is: How does it happen? How could my son, daughter, mother, father, sister, or brother become a liar, a thief, and someone who cannot be trusted? How could this happen? An why won’t they stop? The first thing you must understand about addiction is, alcohol and addictive drugs are basically painkillers. They chemically kill physical and emotional pain, and also alter the mind’s perception of reality. Drugs can also make people feel numb. For drugs to be attractive to a person there must first be some underlying unhappiness, sense of hopelessness, or physical pain.
The Cycle of Addiction
It begins with a problem, discomfort, or some form of emotional or physical pain a person experiences, and they will find this pain very difficult to deal with.
We start off with an individual who, like most people in our society is basically good. This person encounters a problem or discomfort they do not know how to resolve, or cannot face. This could include problems such as, difficulty fitting in as a child or teenager, anxiety due to peer pressure, work expectations, identity problems or divorce. It can also include physical and mental abuse, personal loss, unresolved unhappiness, and physical discomfort, such as an injury or chronic pain. These problems are real to the individual, and the person is unable to develop any real solution to solve them. Everyone has experienced this in his or her life to a greater or lesser degree. The difference between an addict and the non-addict is, the addict chooses drugs or alcohol as a solution to the unwanted problem, or discomfort.
A person tries drugs or alcohol, and the drugs or alcohol appear to solve their problem. Automatically the individual feels better. Because they now seem better able to deal with life, the drugs or alcohol become valuable to them. The person looks on drugs or alcohol as a cure for unwanted feelings. The painkilling effects of drugs or alcohol become a solution to their discomfort. Inadvertently the drugs or alcohol now become valuable because it helped them feel better. This release is the main reason a person uses drugs or alcohol multiple times. The result of continual use will lead to a potentially life threatening addiction.
The use of drugs or alcohol becomes obsessive. The addicted person is trapped, and whatever problem they were initially trying to solve by using drugs or alcohol, has now faded from memory. At this point. all they can think about is buying and using drugs. They lose the ability to control their usage, and completely disregard all the consequences of their actions.
The Drug Personality
There is such a thing as a drug personality, it’s artificial and created by drugs. Drugs can change the attitude of a person from their original personality to one secretly harboring hostilities and hatreds he or she does not permit to show on the surface. This establishes a link between drugs and increasing difficulties with crime, production, and the modern breakdown of social and industrial culture.
In the beginning, a drug user will attempt to withhold the fact of their drug use from friends and family. They will begin to suffer the effects of their own dishonesty and guilt. They may become withdrawn, and difficult to reason with. They may also behave strangely. The more they use drugs or alcohol, the guiltier they will feel, and the more depressed they will become. They will sacrifice their personal integrity, relationships with friends and family, jobs, money, and anything else they may have in an attempt to acquire more drugs. The drugs are now the most important thing in their life.
The drug personality includes such characteristics as:
· Mood swings
· Unreliability
· Unable to finish projects
· Unexpressed resentment and secret hate
· Dishonesty towards family, friends, and employers
· Withdraws from those they love and care for
· Emotional isolation
· May appear chronically depressed
· May seem very anxious
· May begin stealing from family and friends
Psychological and Physiological Effects
Drug addiction can have many different effects psychologically with a person, but always damaging the person’s mind. The mind is our most important tool. With our mind, we solve the problems we face in life. Drugs do several things that harm one’s ability to think, or to be fully aware of the present surroundings. These symptoms continue long after the effects of the drugs appear to have worn off. Addictive drugs activate the brain’s reward systems. The promise of reward is very intense causing the individual to crave the drug, and to focus their activities around taking the drug. Addictive drugs have the ability to strongly activate a reward mechanism, also they have the ability to chemically alter the normal functions of the body’s systems, this can produce an addiction. Drugs also reduce a person’s level of consciousness, harming the ability to thinks, or to be fully aware of present surroundings. Because of the effects of drugs on the mind, a person with a history of drug use isn’t always necessarily in the here and now. The drug user is not moving in the same series of events as others. This can be slight, wherein the person is seen to make occasional mistakes, or it can be as serious as total insanity, where the vents apparent to him are completely different from those apparent to anyone else. It isn’t that the drug user doesn’t know what’s going on; it is that they perceive something different. Instead of the actual series of events, which are happening around them.
In addition to the psychological stress created by unethical behavior, the addict’s body has also adapted to the presence of the drugs. They will experience and overwhelming obsession with using drugs, and will do anything to avoid the pain of withdrawing from them. This is when the newly created drug addict begins to experience drug cravings. They will now seek drugs both for the reward of the pleasure they give, and also to avoid the psychological and physical horrors of withdrawal. Ironically, the addict’s ability to get high from the alcohol or drugs gradually decreases as their body adapts to the presence of foreign chemicals. They must take more and more, not just to get an effect, but often just to function at all. At this point, the addict is stuck in a vicious dwindling spiral. The drugs being abused have changed the person both physically and psychologically. They have now become a drug addict and/or alcoholic.
The Difficulties of Stopping a Drug Addiction
Addicts cannot stop using drugs for two reasons:
1. Mental and physical cravings caused by drug residues which remain in the body.
2. The biochemical personality that drugs cause, and the means the person takes to
acquire more drugs.
When an addict initially tries to quit using drugs; cells in the brain, which have become used to large amounts of these drugs, are now forced to deal with a much decreased amount of the drug. Even as the withdrawal symptoms subside, the brain demands the addict give it more of their particular drug. This is called a drug craving. Cravings are an extremely powerful urge, and can cause a person to create many reasons why they should continue using drugs or alcohol. He is now trapped in an endless cycle of trying to quit, combined with cravings, relapse, and fear of withdrawal.
When a person drinks or uses drugs over a period of time, the body becomes unable to completely eliminate all of the toxins left behind. The drug metabolites, (the substances the body converts drug or alcohol into) although removed rapidly from the blood stream, become trapped in the fatty tissues of the body. The fatty tissue of our body is oil soluble, and it is the oil residues from these metabolites, which become stored in the fat cells. There are various types of tissues, which are high in fat content, causing drug residues to remain there for years. At times of stress, and when the body is exerting energy, the stored drug metabolites are re-released back into the blood stream, causing the body and the brain to react. The former addict now experiences a drug restimulation, or flahback, combined with physical drug cravings. This is common in the months, or even years, after an addict stops using drugs or alcohol.
Drug metabolites throughout the body are the end result of drug use. Because these deposits of drug or alcohol metabolites will release back into the bloodstream from the fatty tissues, it will cause many problems during periods of clean time. This will cause physical and mental cravings, and relapse will remain a cause for concern. Left unhandled, the presence of metabolites even in microscopic amounts cause the brain to react as if the addict had again actually taken the drug, and can set up cravings and relapse, even after years of sobriety.
Tags: Addiction Drug, Addictive Drugs, Alcohol, Anxiety, Array, Child Anxiety, Chronic Pain, Drug Addict, Drug Addiction, Drugs Alcohol, Emotional Pain, Hopelessness, Liar, Mental Abuse, Mother Father, Perception Of Reality, Person Experiences, Personal Loss, Physical Discomfort, Real Solution, Thief, Unhappiness, Work Expectations
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