Progression Of Abuse To Addiction From First to Last. A Primer

Stages of Addiction Few people take their first dose of a drug-- legal or illegal-- with the hope of getting addicted. Yet for 2009, the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports that 23.5 million people sought some form of treatment for drug and alcohol problems. Of course, individual physiology and psychological makeup have much to do with how rapidly addiction can take hold and with the amount consumed prior to passing the unseen threshold from freedom to slavery.

While each particular instance may differ in time frame and ferociousness of dependence, a few patterns are standard among the total pool of drug abusers. Through the statements of addicted people and the professionals who treat them, researchers are able to recognize benchmarks for the phases of drug addiction.

Experimenting With Drugs

Addiction need not begin in adolescence. Even seniors may take alcohol or substances to take the edge off being lonely. Without a honest self-assessment-- a truthful assessment of the symptoms of drug addiction-- a user can pass unknowingly into the more distressing stages of drug addiction.

Consistent Consumption

Taking a drug or other people substance on a regular basis does not always lead an individual into addiction. Some can take a drug continuously for a period of time and after that terminate its consumption with negligible discomfort. Should the timeframe extends indefinitely and the potency of doses increase likewise, regular usage might transform right into substance addiction.

Hazardous Consumption

While the stages of drug addiction are gone through, the individual's personal decisions and conduct become progressively more hazardous, both to herself or himself and other people. For example, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that 28.4 percent of young adults in between the ages of 21 and 25 operated a vehicle under the influence of illegal substances in 2009. Good friends and loved ones are best fit to identify whether ordinary habits are modifying. Hallmarks of increasingly hazardous things include things like:

• Driving a vehicle while under the influence of a sedative

• Using money foolishly to acquire the drug

• Defensive during conversation

• Concealing things

• Adjustments in look.

Changes in desire for food, memory failure and deteriorating fine motor skills are also warning signs of drug abuse. The demarcation line seperating unsafe consumption and dependence is thin and difficult to distinguish. Getting aid for yourself or somebody you care about ought not be postponed at this phase.

Dependency

Of all the stages of substance dependence, use and addiction are the most difficult to distinguish. The destructive penalties of drug abuse are already observable in dependency. For instance, the dependent person is frequently absent from their work as a result of repetitive use of the controlling drug. Over and above the employer, the substance abuser will periodically allow commitments to family, close friends, neighbors and community go by the wayside. The high-risk conducts recorded above become more recurrent. Through all of this, though, the dependent differs from the addict by satisfying enough commitments to preserve the essential structure of their life. Although the direction of drug abuse phases is still headed downward, the appearance of normalcy endures.

Addiction

If changes are not initiated-- and assistance is not sought-- the stages of drug addiction trigger the most harmful stage: addiction itself. Now the individual is psychologically and physically bonded to uninterrupted consumption of the drug or alcohol. The stage of brain disease is achieved and the sufferer goes through a number of harmful results of long-term substance abuse. The cardiovascular system and blood circulation process might be endangered, as can the respiratory tract. Immunity is weakened, permitting hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, and several kinds of cancer to ravage the addict. Brain damage and mental deterioration can also happen. At this intensity, the person seeking liberty from addiction must undergo detoxing. Because the addiction is of both mind and body, withdrawal syndromes are best supervised and cared for by knowledgeable doctors. As soon as the enslaving drug has left the physical body, the substance abuser can partner with psychotherapists to isolate the root causes and nature of the addiction. Honest and systematic therapy with mental health professionals, blended with consistent attendance in a support group has helped numerous ostensibly irreparable addicts to daily lives without drug abuse. sons of liberty

Without a sober self-assessment-- an sincere analysis of the signs of substance addiction-- an individual could pass unknowingly into the more intense stages of drug addiction. Using a drug or other chemical substance on a regular basis does not automatically entrap someone into addiction. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health declared that 28.4 percent of young adults between the ages of 21 and 25 operated a vehicle under the influence of illegal drugs in 2009. Of all the stages of drug dependence, use and addiction are the most challenging to demarcate. If changes are not initiated-- and aid is not looked for-- the stages of drug addiction draw a person to the most grievous stage: addiction itself.

Structure and Statistics from: http://www.samhsa.gov/