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Illicit Drug Addiction
Ecstasy
Meth
Cocaine/Heroin
Marijuana
Inhalants
Prescription Drug Addiction
Ritalin
Codeine
Oxycontin
Vicodin
Alcohol Addiction
PTSD
Dual Diagnosis
Illicit Drug Addiction
The term illicit drugs is used to describe drugs which are under international control (and which may or may not have licit medical purposes) but which are produced, trafficked and/or consumed illicitly.
Ecstasy
What Is Ecstasy?
Ecstasy is MDMA, or 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine. It belongs to a family of drugs called “entactogens,” which literally means “touching within.” Other drugs in this category include MDA, MDE and MBDB. Before it was made illegal in 1985, MDMA was used by psychiatrists as a therapeutic tool. Studies are currently underway in several countries including the United States and Israel to assess MDMA’s effectiveness in the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Short-Term Effects
Short-term effects of ecstasy use can include:
- Muscle tension
- Sweating
- Heightened senses
- Poor concentration
- Hot and cold flushes
- Hallucinations
- Euphoria
- Empathy for others/emotional warmth
- Teeth grinding
- Anxiety or paranoia
- Involuntary teeth or jaw clenching
- Nausea
- Extreme relaxation
- Severe dehydration (especially when mixed with alcohol)
- Heat exhaustion
- Increased body temperature up to 108 degrees (especially when dancing)
- Increased blood pressure, breathing rate, pulse rate and heart rate
- Faintness
- Feeling of well being
- Dry mouth
Long-Term Effects
Long-term effects of ecstasy use can include:
- Death.
- Dramatic increase in heart rate, leading to serious complications for people with cardiovascular disease.
- Dehydration can lead to liver and kidney failure.
- Disturbing emotional reactions, confusion, depression, sleep problems, drug craving, severe anxiety, and heart palpitations. Symptoms last a long time after taking the drug.
- Depletes the amount of serotonin in the brain and blocks uptake of serotonin.
- Toxic to the brain.
- Impairs memory.
- Brain damage is directly related to amount and frequency of usage.
- Sleep problems
Ecstasy-related deaths have been reported; usually as a result of heatstroke from dancing in hot clubs for long hours without replenishing lost body fluids.6 Dehydration and heat exhaustion are the two biggest dangers when under the influence of MDMA. It is important to note that there are many other side effects that can occur from other unknown drugs/substances that could be in the ecstasy tablet. These can include addiction, overdose, and death.
Addiction
Ecstasy addiction is a disorder that affects the brain. Every person is different; the drug affects individuals in diverse ways. While some people may abuse the drug and not get addicted, there are others who take the drug and get hooked on it immediately. Ecstasy addiction is typified by an individual having to take the drug on a regular basis, no matter the harm it causes to their health, family, job and the general performance in the society.
Ecstasy can rapidly cause dependence and most individuals complain that they have a difficult time stopping the drug. Because the pleasant effects of Ecstasy diminish with time, most users tend not to use it for prolonged period. However, the addictive nature of the drug makes stopping the drug difficult and the vicious cycle of dependence continues.
Treatment Options
A number of drug treatment options are available to treat Ecstasy dependence. While abstinence may be a suitable management plan for those who have only used MDMA for the short term, it is not a valid solution for long term users. Long terms users develop severe withdrawal symptoms and abrupt abstinence is fraught with medical complications. Most treatment programs offer counseling, behaviors modification, and detoxification with the use of sedatives. Both in and outpatient
detoxification programs are available. The aim of all programs is to reduce the risks of detoxification over time.
Meth
What Is Meth?
Meth (Methamphetamine) is a powerfully addictive stimulant that dramatically affects the central nervous system. The drug is made easily in clandestine laboratories with relatively inexpensive over-the-counter ingredients. These factors combine to make methamphetamine a drug with high potential for widespread abuse.
Short-Term Effects
Short-term effects of Meth use can include:
- Increased wakefulness.
- Increased respiration.
- Hyperthermia.
- Increased heart rate and blood pressure.
- Irregular heartbeat.
- Cardiovascular collapse.
- A feeling of alertness and sharpened senses;
- Reduced need for sleep, insomnia;
- Increase physical activity;
- Reduced appetite;
- Increased self-confidence;
- Exhilaration, talkativeness, restlessness, irritability;
- Increased metabolism;
- Impairment of judgment and reduced inhibitions in some cases leading to outright recklessness;
- Initially, heightened sense of sexuality. After a long time of abuse, however, the sexual drive decreases.
Long-Term Effects
- Long-term effects of Meth use can include:
- Psychotic behavior.
- Auditory hallucinations.
- Mood disturbances.
- Delusions and paranoia.
- Homicidal or suicidal thoughts.
- hallucinations
- disorganized lifestyle
- violent and aggressive behavior
- permanent psychological problems
- behavior resembling paranoid schizophrenia
- poor coping abilities
- disturbance of personality development
- lowered resistance to illnesses
- possible brain damage
Addiction
The most disturbing sign of meth addiction is the classic meth-user look of a wounded face and a collapsed jaw. Because Meth is a super Sudafed, it dries out the skin completely.
Meth users suffer the same addiction cycle and withdrawal symptoms as do crack cocaine users. Both drugs lead to binging – consuming the drug continuously for three or more days without sleep. While cocaine binges rarely last longer than 72-hours, Meth binges can last up to two weeks. The user is then driven into a severe depression followed by paranoia and aggression (known as tweaking). When heavy cocaine users experience paranoia, it almost always disappears once the binge ends. With Meth, severe mood disturbances, bizarre thoughts and behavior may last for days – sometimes weeks – and the user lose a grip on reality.
All addiction recovery faces the effects of withdrawals; the same is true for methamphetamine recovery. The meth user at the onset of withdrawal experiences an extreme inability to feel pleasure. This is due to the fact that meth affects the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is the control hormone for happiness. When methamphetamine enters the body it tells the brain to releases high levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which stimulates brain cells, enhancing mood and body movement.
Meth use causes both short- and long-term affects – physical as well as mental. Some people mistakenly believe Meth is less harmful than crack, cocaine or heroin, but because of the ingredients used in its manufacturing, there is a greater chance of suffering a heart attack, stroke or serious brain damage with Meth than with other drugs. It is far more dangerous than the Meth which was popular back in the 1950s and ’60s. Today’s ephedrine-based Meth can kill you.
Treatment Options
Meth treatment is not entirely different from other substance abuse treatment options. What seems to make a difference in methamphetamine treatment is time; this is because meth stays in the body from six to twelve months. Treatment is difficult and uncertain due to the unusually intense addiction the substance induces. Meth addiction recovery is acutely difficult, because of how meth affects the brain chemicals. Here are some therapies that can work for methamphetamine treatment:
Behavioral modification: This therapy helps the addict replace dangerous and undesirable behaviors with new habits. Addicts may also undergo cognitive conditioning, learning to apply deep breathing and meditation techniques, in order to help them overcome. Behavioral modification helps addicts find other activities to help them take their minds off of the meth, and gradually works toward getting them away from a dependence on the drug.
Pharmacological methamphetamine treatment: In many cases, methamphetamine treatment involves drugs. Drug therapies use less dangerous relatives of meth to help addicts gradually step down. Physicians currently prefer dextroamphetamine and phenteramine as ways to help alleviate cravings and slowly wean the body away from meth addiction. However, there are still debates over the effectiveness of this method, and many agree that without a behavioral modification component, drug therapy alone is less likely to succeed.
Cocaine/Heroin
What Is Cocaine/Heroin?
Cocaine
Cocaine is a naturally occurring alkaloid usually extracted from the leaves of the coca shrub, which was originally found in the Andes Mountains of Peru and Bolivia. With its appreciation as a lucrative cash crop, it is now cultivated in Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, the West Indies, Ecuador, and Java.
Heroin
Heroin is an opiate drug that is synthesized from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seed pod of the Asian opium poppy plant. Heroin usually appears as a white or brown powder or as a black sticky substance, known as “black tar heroin.”
Short-Term Effects
Short-term effects of Cocaine use can include:
- Constricted blood vessels.
- Dilated pupils.
- Increased heart rate.
- Higher blood pressure.
- loss of appetite;
- faster breathing;
- raised heart rate;
- an increase in body temperature which leads to sweating;
- dilated pupils;
- Strange, erratic, at times violent behavior.
Short-term effects of Heroin use can include:
- Euphoria.
- Nodding off (alternately alert and drowsy state).
- Dry mouth.
- Severe itching.
- Constricted Pupils.
- Dizziness.
- Nausea, vomiting.
- Slowed mental function.
- Reduced physical pain.
- Warm flushed skin.
- Weakness in muscles.
- Slowed breathing.
- Overdose and/or death.
Long-Term Effects
Long-term effects of Cocaine use can include:
- Addiction
- Irritability
- Restlessness
- Mood Disturbances
- Paranoia
- Auditory Hallucinations
Long-term effects of Heroin use can include:
- Bad teeth
- Inflammation of the gums
- Constipation
- Cold sweats
- Itching
- Weakening of the immune system
- Coma
- Respiratory (breathing) illnesses
- Muscular weakness, partial paralysis
- Reduced sexual capacity and long-term impotence in men
- Menstrual disturbance in women
- Inability to achieve orgasm (women and men)
- Loss of memory and intellectual performance
- Introversion
- Depression
- Pustules on the face
- Loss of appetite
- Insomnia
Addiction
Cocaine and heroin are highly addictive drugs. They work in the same way as nicotine by tapping into the brain’s natural reward (dopamine) pathways. The drug binds itself to the proteins in the brain that are responsible for transporting the dopamine. As a result, the dopamine builds up in the synapse to create a “high.” You experience pleasure every time you take it and a distinct lack of pleasure once it wears off, thus reinforcing the compulsion to take more.
Some people who try cocaine and/or heroin become addicted to it relatively quickly. Once a person has developed an addiction, it can be difficult to overcome. Over time, a person with a addiction could find their feelings have flat lined and the only way they can feel anything resembling pleasure is to use the drug.
The facts about which a “typical” cocaine and/or heroin addict is may surprise you. The majorities of people who become addicted to cocaine and/or heroin are gainfully employed and have full-time jobs. In response to a survey conducted by Narcotics Anonymous, over 40 percent of cocaine addicts admitted that they have supplied the drug to co-workers.
Treatment Options
Cocaine
Every individual is different and so there are many different cocaine treatments out there. The doctor must work with a psychologist to determine what treatment would work best for the drug addict and the one the individual would be most likely to stick to. Once this is determined the cocaine treatment begins.
The majority of individuals seeking treatment for drug addictions is for cocaine use. As a result doctors are very well educated in cocaine treatment and know what works and how to make it work. Of course, the drug user must be willing to put forth the effort to change and be dedicated to staying clean. And, if they are, they will be able to beat their cocaine addiction through cocaine treatment.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is one method of cocaine treatment. This method focuses on teaching the drug user how to recognize the situations where cocaine use happens, avoid these situations altogether, and then cope with their feelings and emotions in another way that does not include drug or substance abuse.
Behavioral interventions are another method of cocaine treatment. This method focuses on changing the individual’s habits and lifestyles so they can start new. This requires the elimination of the drug friends, focusing on breaking the habit, identifying triggers that create the urge for cocaine use and more. It takes some time for a drug user to be stable but at this point cocaine treatment may continue on an inpatient or outpatient basis. Counseling is also an important part of cocaine treatment. Individuals frequently feel embarrassed, guilty and shameful.
However, counseling helps them understand their addiction and overcome it.
Heroin
A range of treatments exist for heroin addiction, including medications and behavioral therapies. Treatment often begins with medically assisted detoxification, to help patients withdraw from the drug safely. Medications such as clonidine and, now, buprenorphine can be used to help minimize symptoms of withdrawal.
Medications to help prevent relapse include the following:
Methadone has been used for more than 30 years to treat heroin addiction. It is a synthetic opiate medication that binds to the same receptors as heroin; but when taken orally, it has a gradual onset of action and sustained effects, reducing the desire for other opioid drugs while preventing withdrawal symptoms. Properly administered, methadone is not intoxicating or sedating, and its effects do not interfere with ordinary daily activities. Methadone maintenance treatment is usually conducted in specialized opiate treatment programs. The most effective methadone maintenance programs include individual and/or group counseling, as well as provision of or referral to other needed medical, psychological, and social services.
Buprenorphine is a more recently approved treatment for heroin addiction (and other opiates). Compared with methadone, buprenorphine produces less risk for overdose and withdrawal effects and produces a lower level of physical dependence, so patients who discontinue the medication generally have fewer withdrawal symptoms than those who stop taking methadone. The development of buprenorphine and its authorized use in physicians’ offices give opiate-addicted patients more medical options and extend the reach of addiction medication. Its accessibility may even prompt attempts to obtain treatment earlier. However, not all patients respond to buprenorphine—some continue to require treatment with methadone.
For pregnant heroin abusers, methadone maintenance combined with prenatal care and a comprehensive drug treatment program can improve many of the detrimental maternal and neonatal outcomes associated with untreated heroin abuse.
Marijuana
What Is Marijuana?
Marijuana is a green, brown, or gray mixture of dried, shredded leaves, stems, seeds, and flowers of the hemp plant.
Short-Term Effects
Short-term effects of Marijuana use can include:
- Sleepiness
- Difficulty keeping track of time, impaired or reduced short-term memory
- Reduced ability to perform tasks requiring concentration and coordination, such as driving a car
- Increased heart rate
- Potential cardiac dangers for those with preexisting heart disease
- Bloodshot eyes
- Dry mouth and throat
- Decreased social inhibitions
- Paranoia, hallucinations
- Impaired or reduced short-term memory
- Impaired or reduced comprehension
- Altered motivation and cognition, making the acquisition of new information difficult
- Paranoia
- Psychological dependence
- Impairments in learning, memory, perception, and judgment – difficulty speaking, listening effectively, thinking, retaining knowledge, problem solving, and forming concepts
- Intense anxiety or panic attacks
Long-Term Effects
Long-term effects of Marijuana use can include:
- Enhanced cancer risk
- Decrease in testosterone levels and lower sperm counts for men
- Increase in testosterone levels for women and increased risk of infertility
- Diminished or extinguished sexual pleasure
- Psychological dependence requiring more of the drug to get the same effect.
Addiction
Marijuana addiction is simply an uncontrollable urge to possess and use the drug. Those with marijuana addiction are not able to stop using the drug even if they wish. Marijuana addiction has the same characteristics as any other addiction to other drugs including alcohol, tobacco or even caffeine.
Just like any drug, regular use of marijuana leads to the development of a tolerance for it. This means that you need more and more of the drug in order to achieve the same high. If you need more and more of the drug to get high, you are physically addicted to marijuana.
Scientists believe that marijuana can be especially harmful to the lungs because users often inhale the unfiltered smoke deeply and hold it in their lungs as long as possible. Therefore, the smoke is in contact with lung tissues for long periods of time, which irritates the lungs and damages the way they work.
Marijuana smoke contains some of the same ingredients in tobacco smoke that can cause emphysema and cancer. In addition, many marijuana users also smoke cigarettes; the combined effects of smoking these two substances create an increased health risk.
Treatment Options
Most treatment programs will not substitute another drug for marijuana, as is done with more physically addictive drugs like heroin. Instead, overall mental health is assessed and carefully monitored. The patient may be encouraged to discuss the reasons that they began to smoke marijuana, how the drug makes them feel, and their feelings about the treatment program as a whole.
Behavioral interventions, including cognitive-behavioral therapy and motivational incentives (i.e., providing vouchers for goods or services to patients who remain abstinent) have shown efficacy in treating marijuana dependence. Although no medications are currently available, recent discoveries about the workings of the cannabinoid system offer promise for the development of medications to ease withdrawal, block the intoxicating effects of marijuana, and prevent relapse.
Inhalants
What Is Inhalants?
Inhalants are a diverse group of volatile substances whose chemical vapors can be inhaled to produce psychoactive (mind-altering) effects
Short-Term Effects
- Headaches
- Muscle weakness
- Abdominal pain
- Severe mood swings and violent
- Behavior
- Belligerence
- Slurred speech
- Numbness
- Tingling of hands and feet
- Nausea
- Hearing loss
- Visual disturbances
- Depressed reflexes
- Stupor
- Loss of consciousness
- Limb spasms
- Fatigue
- Lack of coordination
- Apathy
- Impaired judgment
- Dizziness
Long-Term Effects
Long-term effects of Inhalants use can include:
- Tiredness
- Tremors
- Paleness in appearance
- Weight loss
- Memory loss
- Liver and Kidney damage
- Degenerative brain disease (leaded petrol)
- Thirst
- Irregular heartbeat, damage to heart muscle
- Depression
- Hostility
- Loss of hearing and smell
- Long term users may feel irritable, hostile depressed and victimized
Addiction
Inhalants are psychologically addictive, and in some cases seem to induce a physical dependency. Most people will get addicted to the inhalant intoxication, and will feel cravings to use the drug with increasing frequency.
Treatment Options
Anyone experiencing an inhalant dependency needs immediate addiction treatment. The irreversible physical damage of chronic abuse demands a strong response, and most inhalant abusers will require addiction treatments to learn how to live drug free.
Although the withdrawal symptoms are not severe, addicts will feel strong cravings to use the drugs, and these cravings can manifest over a lengthy period, making relapse a real possibility.
Inhalant addicts need to learn why they choose to get high, need to learn how to manage cravings to use, and need to learn that life is better free from abuse and addiction.
Addiction treatment options include residential care, such as therapeutic wilderness programs, therapeutic boarding schools or residential rehabs, or outpatient options such as 12 steps meetings or individual and group outpatient counseling.
Prescription Drug Addiction
A prescription drug addict uses medications in a way other than for which they were originally prescribed or to a much greater extent. They come to depend on the drugs to feel better in some way, and experience cravings for them in between doses. The prescription drug use continues in spite of negative consequences for the user, including relationship difficulties, problems on the job, or the risk of physical harm from inappropriate use.
Ritalin
Ritalin is a stimulant prescription drug that has helped countless of people who are suffering from ADD or ADHD disorders. People who have utilized this drug as prescribed by the doctor have successful got healed of this complication. It is a drug that has made many people be able to concentrate in school, pay attention at job and give people focus.
Ritalin is a very addictive drug owed to the fact that it has amphetamines as its key active ingredient. This is a stimulant substance that has the same effects as cocaine, just “lighter”.
Take Ritalin in large quantities very fast, it gives the body a calming effect. This is what makes many people abuse it so that they feel relieved off their stress.
When Ritalin is used properly under supervision from medical personnel, it has no side effects. If the use of this drug goes far, the user will have the feeling of euphoria.
This is a very addictive drug that when the body gets hooked to it, it is hard to quit. The body will yearn for it to have the euphoria feelings. This is what will force people to do anything to get it. It is easily found among the peers. There are several sources that many people may use to get this drug. People go several sources as long as they get this drug. This is a clear show of addiction.
Another clear show of Ritalin abuse is people ditching school, work and other responsibility to use this drug. When the body gets hooked to this drug, it will yearn for more. This is what forces many people abandon whatever they are doing to look for this drug. The amphetamine component of this drug is quickly addictive. It makes the users feel high. However, these are short lived effects that wear out after some times. This is what forces them to long for more of this drug.
Codeine
Codeine is an addictive narcotic painkiller, also known as methyl morphine.
Codeine addiction stems from physical dependency and overuse habits that have not been addressed medically.
Many people are prescribed Codeine and come to find that while the medication they are taking is numbing their pain; they also experience the dreamy, dissociative feeling that goes along with the analgesic properties. One way of looking at it is, while the physical pain is being suppressed, so is whatever mental and emotional pain that they may be feeling.
They then begin to take more than is prescribed and they become addicted to Codeine. This is not always the case, nor does every Codeine addict come to take the drug in a medical setting. Some just take Codeine to get high. In the end the result is the same, Codeine addiction, desperation and despair. Once a person is physically dependent on Codeine, when they stop taking it there is a pronounced withdrawal syndrome associated with the detoxification.
Codeine is commonly prescribed because it is an effective analgesic and for its pain relieving properties. Many studies have shown that properly managed medical use of Codeine is safe and rarely causes clinical addiction, which is defined as compulsive, often uncontrollable use.
Taken exactly as prescribed, Codeine can be used to manage pain effectively for a short period of time. Chronic use of Codeine can result in tolerance to the drug so that higher doses must be taken to obtain the same initial effects. Long-term use also can lead to physical dependence – the body adapts to the presence of Codeine and withdrawal symptoms occur if use is reduced or eliminated abruptly.
Getting someone with an addiction to prescription drugs such as codeine to accept help is difficult. Many users don’t realize they have an addiction. The common image of a drug addict is of an individual “shooting up” in a seedy environment, not of someone taking tablets that are legally available. But addiction to codeine is very real. Addicts can take between 20 and 30 pills containing codeine daily, or the equivalent in cough syrup. As a result, abrupt withdrawal can be painful and dangerous, leading to seizures and convulsion. Detox should be carried out in a residential treatment center or under a medically controlled home detox program. It is also important that a codeine addict addresses the psychological issues behind their addiction as part of their long-term recovery. At Addiction Helper, we’ll guide you through the available options for treating codeine addiction, and give you and your family all the support you need.
Oxycontin
OxyContin is used to treat moderate to severe pain that is expected to last for an extended period of time. OxyContin is used for around-the-clock treatment of pain. Oxycodone is not for treating pain just after a surgery unless you were already taking oxycodone before the surgery.
OxyContin may be habit-forming and should be used only by the person it was prescribed for. Keep the medication in a secure place where others cannot get to it.
It’s known on the street as “oxycotton,” and when it’s used for recreation, it can be highly addictive.
Oxycontin works in a similar way to the other addictive prescriptions as it stimulates the pleasure zones of the brain and does not leave any health benefits to the user’s body. Due to the pleasure or niceness the user feels, it increases the confidence in the drug while reducing the interest of the user on all useful activities in life.
Addicts may suffer several side effects including stomach cramps, vomiting, shaking, agitation, painful muscles or joints, diarrhea, and persistent sweating.
Persons affected by Oxycontin addiction get the drug in several ways such as wrong practices by health physicians themselves and fraudulent deals.
The effects of Oxycontin drug addiction can cause a heart attack. Because the drug depresses the central nervous system, the user might get confused, or begin to act strangely. They get sleepy, or they have mood swings. The lose interest and have an “I don’t care” attitude about things.
Unlike someone who has had “a few too many” drinks and you give them a ride home and put them to bed, too much “Oxy” is serious business. If a person goes to sleep, with low respiration and the other effects of the drug, they may not wake up.
Vicodin
Vicodin contains a combination of acetaminophen and hydrocodone. Hydrocodone is in a group of drugs called narcotic pain relievers. It is used to relieve moderate to severe pain.
Vicodin addiction is an extremely powerful disease that affects the lives. However, with proper treatment vicodin addiction can be overcome.
Vicodin addiction is often seen a less serious condition than addiction to illicit street drugs or alcohol. This is because vicodin is prescribed by a physician and also because vicodin is not seen as causing the same negative problems as other drugs. This misconception often leads vicodin addicts and their loved ones to believe that they do not need to seek treatment.
Vicodin addiction can lead to dependence when you stop taking the medication suddenly. Classical symptoms of this will include sweats and chills, anxiety, stomach problems such as cramping and nausea, tremors, and other symptoms that resemble the flu. This will generally last for 3 to 5 days if the person has stopped cold turkey, but the effects may linger on for a bit longer in some cases
The life of an addicted person is on the edge of a total ruin at all levels; emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual level. Vicodin addiction can destroy the family stability and even push them to divorce. When it comes to family threat, people think honestly to give up and save their families welfare. Alas, they find it so hard and over their capacities. They fail to struggle and give up the mistreatment. In fact, perseverance necessitates strong personality and healthy body. This is not the case for addicted persons. Thus, they must look for rehabilitation center in order to cure with professional methods. They will follow a detoxification procedure in order
Alcohol Addiction
Alcohol addiction is simply defined as a compulsive need for an intoxicating liquid that is obtained from fermented grain or fruit. These liquids include beer, wine, and other hard liquors.
Alcohol is an addictive drug. The more alcohol we drink (and abuse) the more our body comes to depend on it -thus, the nature of addiction. But what is it that makes alcohol so addictive?
The ironic thing about alcohol is that, to your body, it is poison. And in order to ingest alcohol and survive, your body must alter itself significantly. Specifically, your brain and liver undergo changes when you consume alcohol -they literally adapt to this toxin in their midst in an effort to keep you healthy (and breathing!).
Many individuals are genetically predisposed to alcohol addiction. To these people, excessive drinking is a dangerous game, as one’s genetic make-up is a very difficult thing to overcome. People who have a family history of alcohol abuse are more at risks for the issues discussed above including liver disease, brain damage and death as a result of excessive alcohol consumption.
Overcoming the alcohol addiction can be a long road as the addiction needs intensified treatment. The first step as in with all addictions is to admit there is a problem and that alcohol has taken over. Getting sober is another start to recovering from the disease. There are alcohol rehab centers and drug rehabilitation programs that specialize with the disease. Certain recovery programs such as 12 step procedures are a good start as well. Counseling is an important element to seeking out the help that is needed. Medications may be provided as well if the need is there. Most importantly having the support of loved ones around will help with the process and get the progression going for a faster recovery.
Having the will to quit drinking before it leads to a more serious path if it hasn’t already, needs to be on a level where one wants and needs the help without someone telling them.
There are many ways that can help you avoid excessive drinking. One, before you go out make sure to bring money only for the limited amount of alcohol you can consume. If your budget ran out that means you have reached the limit. Some of the greatest tips to control alcohol intake include eating a full meal and drinking lots of water before consuming alcohol. When drinking, do not eat thirst- inducing foods such as chips or peanuts. Drink slowly, sip it. Be with someone when you drink.
Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD)
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an emotional illness that that is classified as an anxiety disorder and usually develops as a result of a terribly frightening, life-threatening, or otherwise highly unsafe experience.
Complex posttraumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) usually results from prolonged exposure to a traumatic event or series thereof and is characterized by long-lasting problems with many aspects of emotional and social functioning.
Almost half of individuals who use outpatient mental-health services have been found to suffer from PTSD. As evidenced by the occurrence of stress in many individuals in the United States in the days following the 2001 terrorist attacks, not being physically present at a traumatic event does not guarantee that one cannot suffer from traumatic stress that can lead to the development of PTSD.
Almost half of individuals who use outpatient mental-health services have been found to suffer from PTSD. As evidenced by the occurrence of stress in many individuals in the United States in the days following the 2001 terrorist attacks, not being physically present at a traumatic event does not guarantee that one cannot suffer from traumatic stress that can lead to the development of PTSD.
Also, whether or not a traumatized person goes on to develop PTSD; they seem to be at risk for higher use of cigarettes, alcohol, and marijuana. Conversely, people whose PTSD is treated also tend to have better success at overcoming a substance-abuse problem.
Treatments for PTSD usually include psychological and medical interventions. Providing information about the illness, helping the individual manages the trauma by talking about it directly, teaching the person ways to manage symptoms of PTSD, and exploration and modification of inaccurate ways of thinking about the trauma are the usual techniques used in psychotherapy for this illness. Education of PTSD sufferers usually involves teaching individuals about what PTSD is, how many others suffer from the same illness, that it is caused by extraordinary stress rather than weakness, how it is treated, and what to expect in treatment. This education thereby increases the likelihood that inaccurate ideas the person may have about the illness are dispelled, and any shame they may feel about having it is minimized.
Dual Diagnosis
Dual diagnosis occurs when someone has both a mental disorder and an alcohol or drug problem. These conditions occur together frequently.
There are several possible relationships between Alcohol and Other Drugs (AODs) use and psychiatric symptoms and disorders. AODs may induce, worsen, or diminish psychiatric symptoms, complicating the diagnostic process.
The primary relationships between AOD use and psychiatric symptoms or disorders are described in the following classification model (Landry et al., 1991a; Lehman et al., 1989; Meyer, 1986). All of these possible relationships must be considered during the screening and assessment process.
AOD use can cause psychiatric symptoms and mimic psychiatric disorders. Acute and chronic AOD use can causes symptoms associated with almost any psychiatric disorder. The type, duration, and severity of these symptoms are usually related to the type, dose, and chronicity of the AOD use.
Acute and chronic AOD use can prompt the development, provoke the reemergence, or worsen the severity of psychiatric disorders.
AOD use can mask psychiatric symptoms and disorders. Individuals may use AODs to purposely dampen unwanted psychiatric symptoms and to ameliorate the unwanted side effects of medications. AOD use may inadvertently hide or change the character of psychiatric symptoms and disorders.
AOD withdrawal can cause psychiatric symptoms and mimic psychiatric syndromes. Cessation of AOD use following the development of tolerance and physical dependence causes an abstinence phenomenon with clusters of psychiatric symptoms that can also resemble psychiatric disorders.
Psychiatric and AOD disorders can coexist. One disorder may prompt the emergence of the other, or the two disorders may exist independently. Determining whether the disorders are related may be difficult, and may not be of great significance, when a patient has long-standing, combined disorders. Consider a 32-year-old patient with bipolar disorder whose first symptoms of alcohol abuse and mania started at age 18, who continues to experience alcoholism in addition to manic and depressive episodes. At this point, the patient has two well-developed independent disorders that both require treatment.
Psychiatric behaviors can mimic behaviors associated with AOD problems. Dysfunctional and maladaptive behaviors that are consistent with AOD abuse and addiction may have other causes, such as psychiatric, emotional, or social problems. Multidisciplinary assessment tools, drug testing, and information from family members are critical to confirm AOD disorders.
The symptoms of a coexisting psychiatric disorder may be misinterpreted as poor or incomplete “recovery” from AOD addiction. Psychiatric disorders may interfere with patients’ ability and motivation to participate in addiction treatment, as well as their compliance with treatment guidelines.
For example, patients with anxiety and phobias may fear and resist attending Alcoholics Anonymous or group meetings. Depressed people may be too unmotivated and lethargic to participate in treatment. Patients with psychotic or manic symptoms may exhibit bizarre behavior and poor interpersonal
relations during treatment, especially during group-oriented activities. Such behaviors may be misinterpreted as signs of treatment resistance or symptoms of addiction relapse.
