What Is Addiction and Who Becomes Addicted?

 

We have never met an addict who purposefully set out to become one. What is clear from our own experience and from talking to experts is that almost always those addicted to alcohol suffer from mental health problems, most notably chronic anxiety and or depression, Drug Rehabilitation centre in Gurgaon  OCD, or post-traumatic stress disorders.

This goes some way to explain whilst many of those who become addicted to alcohol describe how on taking their first drink they feel normal for the first timeas in the initial stages at least alcohol can provide a buffer from the feelings which the future Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Faridabad addict is seeking to retreat from.

This in broad terms explains why as their alcohol intake increases to create the same effect their brain little by little starts to crave alcohol. Over time drinking for them becomes a fight or flight for survival. That is why addiction can, in the end, combust into Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Ghaziabad a form of madness as the craving for the drug outweighs any moral dilemma to jump into a car for example when drunk, or to behave in ways that would be irrational when sober.

Whilst society, ministers, public health advisors, commentators, and the alcohol industry itself talk about problem drinking being the fault of the uncontrolled few, what we fervently believe is that the addict has unwittingly been drawn into a life of addiction because a primary mental health condition has gone undiagnosed and over time untreated.

Whilst this is a simplistic view of addiction it is an important set of statements as treatment of the underlying condition could prevent full-blown addiction and the misery and personal/public cost that it brings in its wake.

One of the key messages we want to communicate is that rather than addicts being cast aside as losers they are real people who are vulnerable and who have needed help long before they end up in rehabilitation programs.

When addicts are not able to recover it is quite often the case that they die alone because family members cannot bear the pain of watching their loved ones kill themselves with booze and because once addicted the behaviors that result in satisfying their cravings are unlovable.

Whilst our book talks about the various approaches that family members and friends can adopt to help the addict realize they may have a problem and need help - this article does not intend to summarise this.

All we are trying to do here is to communicate some key messages and highlight where we need change to happen so that attitudes towards addiction and its treatment can be transformed.

In summary one of the key messages, the public needs to understand thataddicts do not set out to become addicted. They use drugs like alcohol to mask mental health problems. They are vulnerable and early medical help and intervention could prevent them from going on to suffer from full-blown addiction.

You can reach out to us for help through our website, we give out the best treatment for drug/alcohol and other addictions.