Substance Abuse and Drug Addiction- How They Happen.

No one wants to be a drug addict or alcoholic, but this doesn't stop people from getting addicted. The most commonly asked question is simply - how? How could my son, daughter, father, sister, or brother become a liar, a thief, someone who cannot be trusted? How could this happen? And why won't they stop? With the following information addiction watch counselors hope to bring to light the subject of substance abuse, drug addiction and the need for substance abuse treatment or drug rehabilitation.

Drug Addiction and Substance Abuse- How they work

The first thing you must understand about addiction is that mind-altering drugs and substances are basically painkillers. For drugs to be attractive to a person they have to provide what someone is looking for. No one wants to be a drug addict or alcoholic, but this doesn't stop people from getting addicted.

There must first be some underlying unhappiness, sense of hopelessness, or physical pain. Many times in younger people an uninformed decision is made to use drugs or alcohol simply because the person is looking for something to stimulate their time and who suffer boredom or lack of interest.

Simply explained the brain pleasure sensors are stimulated by chemicals in the brain that directly affect a person’s moods. When a person uses drugs or alcohol impulses are then sent to brain sending signals to release these chemicals, called neurotransmitters and cause sense of well being or achieve the desired affect the drug addict or alcoholic is trying to achieve. This encourages substance abuse and increases the potential of the need for substance abuse treatment.

Drug addiction and substance abuse at their roots

Substance abuse and drug addiction follow cycles like this:

A person has some problem, sense of unhappiness or hopelessness, or physical discomfort. It could be a teenager experiencing his first romantic rejection, or a grandmother with arthritis, a housewife who wants to lose weight and have more energy, or it could be a man in his prime, wondering why he keeps failing on the job, or it could be someone at any age in between.

The now drug addicts then decided to use drugs, alcohol or various substances, illegally or for non medical reasons which is substance abuse. The drugs or alcohol appears to solve his problem and the now addict e feels better. Because he or she now seems better able to deal with life, the drugs become valuable to him.

Once the drugs or alcohol have value things that actually do have meaning and contribute to a person’s over all survival, such as family, job and friendships decrease in value. In order to justify this behavior, the drug addict or alcoholic, now suffering from addiction, find fault in others for the misgivings and irresponsible behavior.

The addict gradually increases his usage and the substance abuse and dependence become greater. He is then trapped. Whatever problem he was initially trying to solve by using drugs or alcohol fades from memory. At this point, all he can think about is getting and using drugs or alcohol which is now the problem. He loses the ability to control his substance abuse and disregards the horrible consequences of his addiction.

When at one point small amounts of the drug or alcohol would stimulate the brain and create the desired effect, now the supply of the neurotransmitters or feel good chemicals is depleted. The body takes time to restock therefore more drugs, alcohol or substance is needed.

This is where marijuana is considered a gateway drug and leads to harder more chemically influential drugs, or heavier abuse. Often children have been told to ‘just say no’ with the attempts to scare them away from drugs. This method of drug prevention failed. When approached by family or friends or medical practitioners to use drugs, generally the first time substance abuse occurs in a non-violent somewhat safe manner, and drug or alcohol use seems safe.

The addict will now attempt to withhold his substance abuse from friends and family members. He will begin to suffer the effects of his own dishonesty and guilt. He may become withdrawn and difficult to reason with. He may behave strangely, which causes many to fall for the myth of the underlying psychiatric disorder causing the drug addiction or substance abuse. The more he drinks and uses drugs, the guiltier he will feel, and the more depressed he will become.

Many factors attribute this depression, the mechanics as described above the sense of right from wrong inherent in most people.  The drug addict or alcoholic will sacrifice his personal integrity, possibly lying and stealing to finance his drinking or drug habit. His relationships with friends and family and his job performance will go drastically downhill.

Addiction and Tolerance

The drugs and alcohol is now the most important thing in addict’s life. He has thrown away his job, his life-savings, his dreams and ambitions, all in an effort to maintain the painkilling and emotion killing effects he once obtained from the drugs. But ironically, his ability to get "high" from the alcohol or drugs gradually decreases as his body adapts to the presence of foreign chemicals. He must take more and more, and he now has to have them to be able to function at all.

As he continues to drink or use drugs, his body continues to adapt to the presence of the drugs. This is when the newly created addict begins to experience drug cravings. He will experience an overwhelming obsession with getting and using his drugs, and will do anything to avoid the pain of withdrawing from them.

He has crossed an invisible and intangible line. He is now a drug addict or alcoholic. These addictions now could include cocaine addiction, methamphetamine addiction, heroin addiction, ecstasy addiction, with prescription addiction amassing drug addicts that outnumber heroin and cocaine addictions combined.

Addiction and its progression

As the alcoholism or drug addiction progresses, the addict will become increasingly haggard and ill-tempered. He will be riding on a drug or alcohol induced emotional roller-coaster which may actually be mistaken for mental illness. He may seem very "up" and enthusiastic when he is high, but when the drugs wear off, he becomes depressed and lethargic. He may go into a drug-induced depression.

At this point, the addict is stuck in a vicious downward spiral. He faces the problem of having to find money to buy drugs and to attempt to appear normal to his friends, family and employer. Whether he wants to stop or not, he is now trapped. By now, the drugs he abuses will have changed him both physically and mentally.

Long-term alcoholism and drug addiction can cause one's personality to change. This is called the Biochemical Personality. Some of the characteristics are:

Mood swings
- Unreliable
- Unable to finish projects
- Unexpressed resentment and secret hatreds
- Dishonesty
- Lies to family, friends, employers
- Withdraws from those who love him.
- Isolates self
- May appear chronically depressed
- May begin stealing from family and friends

The above maladies are symptoms of drug addiction and alcoholism and are very often mistaken for psychiatric disorders or brain diseases and can lead a family further down the road of heartache and failure. A substance abuse treatment or drug rehabilitation program that encompasses all barriers as a means of overcoming addiction works best and increases chances of successful addiction recovery.