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What is Addiction?
Addiction is a serious, chronic condition that can have a detrimental impact on all aspects of your life, physically, mentally, and emotionally. The two primary forms of addiction that we typically see are substance addiction (namely alcohol addiction and drug addiction) and behavioural addiction.
Although the effects of addiction can be potentially life-threatening, it’s important to remember that addiction can be treated. Your greatest chance of recovery is to seek out professional addiction support as soon as you can. The longer you leave addiction untreated, the more severe the symptoms will become.
Addiction is a disease that affects your brain and your behaviour which results in an inability to control your consumption of the substance. Even if you’re aware of the damage these substances are causing you, your addiction will make you unable to stop drinking or taking drugs. Addiction and dependence are different to one another, despite being considered the same.
The best way to overcome an addiction is to understand what’s caused you to become addicted so that you can identify the triggers and ultimately break the addiction.
Drug addiction usually begins with recreational drug use in social situations, often under peer pressure. Although it may seem as though one drug won’t cause addiction, this is how all addictions begin. One drug will lead to the next until the consumption becomes more frequent and more out of control.
Other substances that have the potential to become addictive in addition to a wide variety of drugs include alcohol, caffeine, and nicotine. The common factor between all these substances is that they produce feelings of pleasure by activating the reward system in your brain; this is the feeling that you can become addicted to.
A behavioural addiction is activated in a similar way, by producing positive feelings in your brain’s reward system. Examples of behavioural addictions are gambling, eating, shopping, exercising, having sex, viewing pornography, using the internet or your phone, and video gaming (also known as internet gaming disorder).
How Does Addiction Develop?
How quickly you become addicted will depend on the type of drug you’re taking. For example, some prescription drugs such as opioid painkillers can cause addiction more quickly than others. As you become more tolerant to these drugs, you’ll begin to take larger doses to achieve the desired high, resulting in a very quick addiction-forming.
Environmental factors can be contributing causes to how someone develops an addiction. If you’re exposed to addiction from a young age and see these substances or behaviours as the norm, then you’re more likely to become involved in these activities yourself. A traumatic event or grief during childhood can also relate to addiction later in life.
It’s possible for someone to be more genetically inclined to develop an addiction. For example, if your parent has a substance addiction, then you’re more likely to develop one yourself. There’s also a strong link between addiction and mental health disorders. The two tend to go hand in hand as when you’re suffering from mental health problems, you may resort to substance abuse to cope with your psychological pain.
When you’ve been suffering from an addiction for so long, you’re more prone to developing mental health problems because of the negative effect that addiction has on your brain.
Signs and Symptoms of Addiction
Whilst the signs and symptoms of addiction will vary from one person to another, there are common signs of addiction across most disorders. Firstly, if you’re suffering from an addiction, you’ll be unable to stop engaging in the behaviour or consuming the substance even though you’re aware of how harmful it is.
You’ll likely try to hide your addiction from your loved ones or even be in denial about it altogether. You may feel as though you’ve completely lost control over your addiction and feel guilty or helpless.
Cravings will develop and overwhelm any other thoughts you have so that you’re solely focused on your next ‘fix’. You’ll likely do anything to ensure that you maintain a supply of the substance or access to the behaviour. If you attempt to stop consuming the substance or taking part in the addictive behaviour, you’ll experience withdrawal symptoms, indicating a severe addiction.
Other symptoms of substance abuse include decreased coordination, dry mouth, red eyes, increased blood pressure and heart rate, major cravings for food at unusual times, anxiety or paranoia, and difficulty concentrating.
Long-term substance abuse can lead to liver disease, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, in addition to a variety of mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, paranoia, loneliness, bipolarity, and suicidal thoughts.
Suffering from an addiction can be extremely overwhelming as it impacts every aspect of your life from relationships with friends and family to your financial situation, your career, and your own wellbeing. You may find yourself engaging in illegal activities in an attempt to fund your addiction or get fired from work as a result of underperforming or being under the influence whilst in the workplace.
Addiction can take a huge toll on families and relationships as they often want to help but don’t know what’s best to do. This is even more difficult when the person suffering from addiction is in denial or is refusing to accept help.
Treatment Options for Addiction
We recommend beginning with a visit to your GP to discuss your symptoms. They may be able to prescribe you medication to ease the discomfort or to help overcome your addiction. Depending on the severity of your addiction and your requirements, they may recommend you to a specialist or to a drug or alcohol rehab facility.
Many rehab facilities will assess your physical and psychological health to determine which treatment options will work best for you. These can include cognitive behavioural therapy (also known as CBT), stress management, relapse prevention, individual, group or family counselling, mindfulness, yoga, relaxation and sleep management, art therapy, fitness therapy, nutritional support therapy, and meditation.
Call us on 0800 470 0382 to learn more about your options.
