Your understanding of how difficult the recovery process can be will help you to support others — both teens and adults — who are battling an addiction. If you do have a relapse, recognizing the problem as soon as possible is critical. Get help right away so that you don't undo all the hard work you put into your initial recovery. And, if you do have a relapse, don't ever be afraid to ask for help! Larger text size Large text size Regular text size. Defining an addiction is tricky, and knowing how to handle one is even harder.
What Are Substance Abuse and Addiction? Physical Addiction Being physically addicted means a person's body becomes dependent on a particular substance even smoking is physically addictive. Psychological Addiction Psychological addiction happens when the cravings for a drug are psychological or emotional. Signs of Addiction The most obvious sign of an addiction is the need to have a particular drug or substance.
Signs that you or someone you know may have a drug or alcohol addiction include: Psychological signals: use of drugs or alcohol as a way to forget problems or to relax withdrawal or keeping secrets from family and friends loss of interest in activities that used to be important problems with schoolwork, such as slipping grades or absences changes in friendships, such as hanging out only with friends who use drugs spending a lot of time figuring out how to get drugs stealing or selling belongings to be able to afford drugs failed attempts to stop taking drugs or drinking anxiety, anger, or depression mood swings Physical signals: changes in sleeping habits feeling shaky or sick when trying to stop needing to take more of the substance to get the same effect changes in eating habits, including weight loss or gain page 2 Getting Help If you think that you or someone you care about is addicted to drugs or alcohol, recognizing the problem is the first step in getting help.
Tips for Recovery After you start a treatment program, try these tips to make the road to recovery less bumpy: Tell your friends about your decision to stop using drugs. True friends will respect your decision. Unless everyone decides to kick their drug habit at once, you probably won't be able to hang out with the friends you did drugs with.
Ask your friends or family to be available when you need them. You might need to call someone in the middle of the night just to talk. If you're going through a tough time, don't try to handle things on your own — accept the help your family and friends offer. Accept invitations only to events that you know won't involve drugs or alcohol. Going to the movies is probably safe, but you may want to skip a Friday night party until you're feeling more secure.
Plan activities that don't involve drugs. Someone who is feeding an addiction may resort to anti-social behaviors to get money to sustain drug use. You may find your child asking for loans or gifts of money or selling treasured family heirlooms. There are many signs to tell if your loved one is struggling with addiction.
Other times, he or she may steal cash, checks from your wallet, or drugs from your medicine cabinet. People in this situation rarely restrict theft to family. If they steal from others, arrests and jail can follow. Plus, since drug possession and sales are themselves illegal, it is not unusual for a loved one who is struggling with addiction to have a criminal record.
When your child has a drug conviction, the negative effects include:. Many employers will not hire a person who has been charged or convicted of drug use. Because of the difficulty involved in reestablishing secure networks, relapses or resistance to treatment can be common. The good news is that our understanding of addiction continues to evolve. Modern treatments give us a framework to treat your loved one as a whole, rather than simply to put a band-aid on drug use.
By addressing physical and mental health, social wellness, and a strong support network, we build a better framework for lasting sobriety and a full re-entry into society.
Destinations for Teens offer numerous paths of therapy and treatment for adolescents and young adults to address their physical addiction as well as their mental health issues.
For those with no experience of this illness, it may be difficult to understand why anyone would continue to use drugs when doing so is negatively affecting not only their lives but the lives of the people they love as well. As previously mentioned, drug addiction alters the way the brain functions. What might make sense to those who are not affected by it may mean very little to the person who cannot break free from their urge to use a specific substance.
Most addicts will make promises to loved ones about how they are going to say goodbye to drugs and how they will never use again. The affected person may well mean what he or she is saying at the time and these promises usually comes after a particularly bad episode of drug abuse.
He or she might be ashamed of things said or done while under the influence or may be suffering the negative symptoms associated with withdrawal. However, once the urge to use comes over them, all the promises made will be forgotten as all the individual can think about is the drug and how he or she will feel once they have used it.
These intense cravings tend to take over and everything else pales into insignificance. This includes spouses, parents and even children. All that matters to the addict is the drug. It is these strong and powerful cravings that often trigger a return to drug use among those who have taken the first steps on the road to recovery. The addict must have an ardent desire to change and have plenty of support to overcome their addiction.
The first part of the recovery process deals with tackling the physical addiction and takes place with a detox. Detox programmes usually take between seven and ten days to complete. How detox goes will depend on the person and the type of drug he or she was using. Detoxing addicts can expect to suffer various withdrawal symptoms during this process, which will vary in intensity.
Some will be mild and include mood swings, nausea, vomiting, headaches, and mild tremors. Yet the risk of severe symptoms such as seizures, convulsions and intense shaking can occur. One thing that most drug addicts will experience during their detox is intense cravings for their drug of choice. As the detox progresses, these feelings will come to a head before then subsiding. These may return at a later stage, which is often the point when the recovering addict suffers a relapse — mainly because he or she was not expecting these powerful cravings and may have become complacent about their recovery.
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Addiction When people succumb to the grip of an addiction, it becomes extremely difficult for them to quit on their own. Understanding how addictions develop helps to shed light on why they are so hard to beat. Start the road to recovery. Get a Call. Questions about treatment? Call now for: Access to top treatment centers Caring, supportive guidance Financial assistance options Addiction Center is not affiliated with any insurance. How Do I Prepare for Rehab? How Long Does Detox Take?
How Much Does Treatment Cost? What Is Inpatient Drug Rehab? Should I Go Back to Rehab? Get professional rehab and addiction education from a qualified doctor today! What Is Addiction? Meet Dr. Bhatt Medical Content Director.
Looking for a place to start? Reach out to a treatment provider for free today. This rate has tripled in the past 20 years. Get Help During COVID With just 30 days at a rehab center, you can get clean and sober, start therapy, join a support group, and learn ways to manage your cravings.
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