Chemical Dependency
Per the Encarta dictionary
chemical dependency is
addiction to a chemical substance or drug.
Dependency can be further defined as the mental or physical need to use a drug or other substance regularly, despite the fact that they are likely to have a damaging effect.
Chemical dependency knows no educational, class, race, or social bounds.
Most
chemical dependency starts out as an attempt to handle some sort of physical or emotional problem.
Some do offer small relief in the short term. The problem enters as more and more use occurs. The very problems originally trying to be solved are now being perpetuated and amplified by the drug use. The individual can not confront perceived pain (emotional or physical) that he feels will come from not using.
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Medical drugs are generally prescribed as short term solutions in the handling of pain.
Many of these
medical drugs will build up tolerance in the system requiring increased amounts for the same effect. Thus dependence sets in and one begins taking these at abusive and addictive levels before long.
This accounts for drugs like OxyContin being more and more used in illegal black markets to handle
addiction to them. Black market illegal use of drugs such as these is outstripping legitimate use and prescription.
Anti-depressants and anti-psychotics are much the same story with many school age children selling their prescriptions in the school yard.
Add the horrific side effects, some of which are life threatening, and what we see is an epidemic rise in the
abuse and
addiction to prescription medications.
With chronic use, tolerance for methamphetamine can develop. In an effort to intensify the desired effects, users may take higher doses of the drug, take it more frequently, or change their method of drug intake. In some cases, abusers forego food and sleep while indulging in a form of binging known as a ‘un’, injecting as much as a gram of the drug every 2 to 3 hours over several days until the user runs out of the drug or is too disorganized to continue. Chronic
abuse can lead to psychotic behavior, characterized by intense paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, and out-of-control rages that can be coupled with extremely violent behavior.
Although there are no physical manifestations of a withdrawal syndrome when methamphetamine use is stopped, there are several symptoms that occur when a chronic user stops taking the drug. These include depression, anxiety, fatigue, paranoia, aggression, and an intense craving for the drug.
Drug
abuse occurs with any use of illegal substances and also occurs when
prescription drugs are taken in excess of recommended dosages or for longer than prescribed.
Addiction is the inevitable next step forward if drug
abuse is not handled.
Addiction is the compulsive seeking and use of drugs or alcohol despite adverse social, mental, and physical consequences.
At this point the abuse of drugs goes beyond just impacting the individual and is severely impacting family, loved ones, finances and careers.
When the individual moves from abuse to
addiction the
drug use controls the individual rather than the individual controlling the usage.
Drugs effects can and do vary depending on the drug (more often drugs) being abused or addicted to. All create devastating effects on health, families and careers.
There are however 3 common denominators among drug and alcohol
abuse and addiction. First are cravings and the often uncontrollable urge to use again.
Second is the feeling of guilt resulting from the addictive lifestyle and the untold harm created for self, family, friends, and society in general.
Third is the depression that inevitably results from destroyed lives, hopes and dreams.
These three points left unhandled are the cause of any future relapse. If the drug
rehab you are considering doesn’t fully address these three points, find another one!
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