Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Stages Of Alcohol Addiction

Few people take their first dose of a drug-- illegal or legal-- with the hope of getting addicted. For 2009, the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration declares that 23.5 million people sought some form of treatment for drug and alcohol problems. Of course, individual physiology and psychological makeup have much to do with how swiftly addiction can take hold and with the quantity consumed before crossing the unseen line from freedom to enslavement.

While every distinct instance may differ in time frame and ferocity of dependence, some patterns are common within the total pool of drug abusers. Out of the statements of addicts and the professionals who care for them, clinicians can recognize benchmarks for the stages of substance addiction.
rasputin

Experimenting With Substances

Experimentation can have many different motivations. Among young people, peer pressure is a top factor in partaking in their initial puff, drink or snort. severe alcoholism need not begin in adolescence. A middle-aged or older individual might try prescribed pain relievers to address continuous discomforts and aches. Even seniors may use alcohol consumption or drugs to alleviate being alone. These represent critical moments in life when a drug is used to force a bodily, emotional or social condition a little bit more manageable. Isolated occasions of use might or might not be followed up with greater frequentness or quantities. With no realistic self evaluation an honest appraisal of the indicators of drug addiction a user might pass unwittingly into the more distressing stages of drug addiction.

Regular Consumption

Using a drug or other people substance on a regular basis does not automatically lead an individual into addiction. Some people can consume a drug steadily for a period of time and then discontinue its consumption with little or no distress. Should the time-span extends indefinitely and the strength of dosages increase likewise, prescribed use could turn into drug addiction.

image
Dangerous Use

As the stages of drug addiction are traveled through, the user's personal choices and conduct become increasingly unsafe, both to himself or herself and others. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported that 28.4 percent of young adults between the ages of 21 and 25 operated a vehicle under the influence of illicit substances in 2009.

• Driving while under the influence of a sedative
• Using cash irresponsibly to obtain the substance
• Defensive during conversation
• Hiding things
• Changes in appearance.
Adjustments in appetite, memory failure and degrading fine motor skills are also manifestations of drug abuse. The line of demarcation between unsafe use and dependency is thin and difficult to distinguish. Securing help for yourself or somebody you love ought not be delayed at this phase.

Addiction

Of all the stages of drug addiction, dependence and use are the toughest to differentiate. The destructive penalties of drug abuse are already observable in dependence.
Through it all, though, the dependent differs from the addict by satisfying enough responsibilities to preserve the fundamental framework of his or her life. Although the direction of drug abuse stages remains headed downward, the appearance of functionality lingers.

Addiction

If adjustments are not made-- and aid is not looked for-- the stages of substance addiction trigger the most harmful phase: addiction itself. Now the individual is psychologically and physically bound to continuous use of the drug or alcohol. The stage of brain disease is reached and the patient undergoes a number of harmful effects of prolonged substance abuse. The heart and circulatory process can be compromised, as can the respiratory tract. Immunity is weakened, permitting hepatitis, HIV/AIDS, and several forms of cancer to devestate the addict. Brain damage and dementia can also occur.
Since the addiction is of both mind and body, withdrawal syndromes are best overseen and treated by qualifie
Sign In or Register to comment.