It changes the brain’s chemistry, impacts behavior, and affects nearly every aspect of a person’s life. The first step of substance use disorder treatment is withdrawal management. This is where you stop taking the substance, allowing it to leave your body. Depending on the severity, a healthcare provider may offer medications to lessen the effects of withdrawal symptoms, as they can be rough physically and mentally. Addiction is a complex and often misunderstood condition that affects millions of people worldwide. It is a brain disease that causes compulsive behavior, making it difficult for those suffering from it to quit despite the negative consequences.
What happens to the brain when a person takes drugs?
Addiction is a life-threatening condition, but with the right support, recovery is possible. Substance misuse does not always lead to addiction, while addiction involves the regular misuse of substances or engagements in harmful behavior. A person with addiction is unable to stop using a substance or engaging in a behavior even though it has harmful effects on daily living. Anyone using substances, even socially, should discuss them with a doctor to ensure safe use and monitor for what is drug addiction signs or symptoms of addiction. Although there are some schools of thought that stress the need for complete abstinence, many people are able to learn to control addictive behaviors, such as drinking, eating, shopping, and sex.
What Holistic and Supportive Approaches Aid Long-Term Recovery?
- Make sure that any conversation about your concerns does not occur while they are under the influence.
- Stopping drug use is just one part of a long and complex recovery process.
- While some people may overcome addiction on their own, research shows that professional treatment significantly increases the chances of long-term recovery.
Adopting healthy lifestyle changes can significantly support recovery from addiction. This includes maintaining a balanced diet, engaging in regular physical activity, and establishing a consistent sleep schedule to promote overall well-being. Additionally, practicing stress-reduction techniques such as mindfulness, meditation, or yoga can help manage cravings and emotional triggers. Building a strong support network through friends, family, or support groups also fosters accountability and encouragement, which are vital for sustaining long-term recovery.
- By Sarah Bence, OTR/LBence is an occupational therapist with a range of work experience in mental healthcare settings.
- Not only does this lessen the brain’s ability to resist intense urges to take drugs, but it can also affect the amount of pleasure a person receives from healthy activities like enjoying food or the company of others.
- The approach that will be best for you depends on many factors and is best decided in collaboration with your doctor or therapist.
- These therapeutic modalities include commonly used therapies such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Motivational Interviewing (MI).
- Many resources are available to help you cope with this process and better understand addiction.
Tobacco, Alcohol, Prescription Medication, and Other Substance Use (TAPS)
Emotionally, individuals experience heightened anxiety, depression, and mood swings, exacerbating their compulsive behavior. Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is a chronic condition where individuals lose control over their drinking habits, resulting in harmful consequences to their health and daily life. AUD is categorized as a substance addiction, as it involves chemical dependency on alcohol, which alters brain chemistry and leads to physical and psychological cravings. Ethanol, the active compound in alcohol, influences the GABAergic system in the brain, disrupting its function based on how much and how alcohol is consumed. The severity of AUD ranges from mild to severe, largely depending on the level of alcohol consumption and the presence of withdrawal symptoms, which include tremors, anxiety, and even life-threatening seizures. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), alcohol is legal in the U.S. for those over 21, but its misuse is one of the most common forms of addiction.
What Is Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) and Which Medications Are Used?
Additionally, individuals with mental health disorders like anxiety, depression, or PTSD turn to drugs or alcohol as a form of self-medication, making them more vulnerable to developing an addiction. The signs and symptoms of drug addiction vary widely and include behavioral and physical changes. Behavioral signs include secrecy, withdrawal from family and social circles, financial problems, and neglect of responsibilities.
Substance Use Disorder vs. Addiction
It is essential to replace any risk factors with protective factors as soon as possible in a person’s life. Meeting their needs and helping them achieve success at home, school, work, or socially will add protective factors that make it less likely they will turn to drugs, alcohol, or unhealthy behaviors to cope. For example, developing a tolerance and experiencing withdrawal symptoms are also typical of dependence. The difference is that when a person is addicted, they lose complete control over the substance, which takes priority over everything else in a person’s life. Someone with a behavioral addiction may experience significant distress or disability, psychobiological dysfunction, social conflicts Drug rehabilitation or deviance, and expected responses to stressors. Someone with either type of addiction, substance or behavioral, has similar risk factors.
