Drug Substance Abuse

Abuse occurs when a drug, alcohol, or other substance is used to the detriment of the users health, family relations, finances, career, etc. The detriments may be slight at the beginning of abuse but generally escalates quite quickly into cravings (mental or physical) for the drug, alcohol, or substance. This is followed in short order by a marked rise in feeling of guilt and depression as the individual starts sacrificing quality of life for self and others in the more and more single-minded pursuit of the drugs and alcohol. Once abuse has set it the whole process of addiction picks up speed as does the damage done to health, families, career, etc. The sooner this dwindling spiral is halted and addressed with effective drug and alcohol rehabilitation the better.

One of the main symptoms of addiction is when the drug use starts controlling the individual instead of the individual controlling the drug use. In real life there is often a very thin line between drug abuse and drug addiction. Both include the compulsive seeking and using of drugs despite adverse social, mental and physical consequences. In addiction the addict usually suffers intolerable physical and mental withdrawal when cessation of use is attempted. The addict has at this point fallen fully into the trap of addiction and will sacrifice almost anyone or anything to satisfy the uncontrollable cravings for the drug or alcohol.

There is a lot of media and press on the subject of substance abuse intervention these days, there are even television shows covering the topic. What happens in most cases of drug and alcohol addiction is the person ceases to track with reality to a greater or lesser degree. They simply don’t see the situations or consequences that are as clear as day to you or I. Their ability to move their attention away from their own drug induced mental and physical pain and out onto their environments is markedly reduced and they are not aware. This can be quite frustrating to loved ones trying to help, as what is obvious to us is simply not real to the addict in many cases. A substance abuse intervention should be designed to give the addict enough assistance with his external observations that the situations and consequences that his or her addiction is creating once again become real to him or her. When the addict feels the threat of pain and loss from his environment is greater than the threat of pain or loss from drugs he or she usually becomes willing to do something, thought this may be reluctantly.

If we understand rehabilitation as restoring someone or something to a previous or improved state, then we can get a good idea of what should occur at a drug addiction rehab. A truly effective drug or alcohol addiction rehab does much, much more than simply get someone off drugs. The assist the individual in locating and handling the barriers to continued sobriety. The barriers of cravings (mental and physical), guilt created and felt that is hard to live with, and depression as the result of the addictive lifestyle are the barriers that left unhandled, leave the entire subject of addiction unhandled. With these points fully handled and addressed one can achieve lasting sobriety, with unhandled the only other choices are death or jail. This is the reality of addiction no matter how harsh it may sound.

Drug use occurs in an effort to relieve some form of pain, it may be physical but is often times emotional or a combination of the two. This could be as simple as using alcohol or pot to avoid peer pressure as a teen, or the use of painkillers after an industrial accident. Either way the drug is found to alleviate the symptoms. The bigger the problem, the greater the discomfort and the more relief is sought. With continued abuse the drugs begin to create mental and physical damage of their own and if continued unchecked the person’s life when sober is filled with despair and misery. At this point all the person wants to do is escape these feelings by drugging or drinking them away. This is the downward spiral of addiction.