Overcoming Drug Addiction

Drug Teen’s are Most Likely to use the First Time Trying or Using a Drug in 2008: In 2008, of the 2.9 million persons aged 12 or older who used illicit drugs for the first time, within the past 12 months, a majority reported that their first drug was marijuana (56.6 percent). Nearly one third initiated with psychotherapeutics (29.6 percent, including 22.5 percent with pain relievers (PERCOCET, OXYCONTIN), 3.2 percent with tranquilizers (XANAX), 3.0 percent with stimulants, and 0.8 percent with sedatives). A sizable proportion reported inhalants (9.7 percent) (HUFFING) as their first drug, and a small proportion used hallucinogens as their first illicit drug (3.2 percent). http://www.inspirationsyouth.com/statistics-teen-drug-use-abuse-addiction/

Most drug addicts who decided to overcome their addiction deal with these thoughts at some point. Do not be discouraged if you feel like you cannot do it. Many people have gone through the process slowly but surely and eventually ended up living more positive lives now. A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.

Changing the path begins with being seeing the problem. Watching loved ones waste their life away is sadly the biggest motivation to change. One of the most prominent memories of my father the statement "go get daddy a beer." Yes, I love my father, but no child deserves to hear those words each time they are with their parent. Children seeing their parents throw their life away or lose their life from addiction takes a piece of them, but also gives wisdom on how to change their own life. As depressing as it sounds, my family being addicts have given insight on how addiction is a serious matter and is not to be played with at any time, especially when it runs through the bloodline.

Thankfully, I've seen most, if not all, of those people fight back from the clutches of addiction and regain a life of sobriety. And they did it by filling their basic human needs. As humans, we all have the same basic wants and desires and understanding how to fill them is crucial to recovery success.

Getting help for drug addiction is often such an intimidating idea that many addicts continue to use rather than expose themselves to the embarrassment or pain that they have associated with reaching out to someone for help. This is in large part due to the fact that television, books and movies have portrayed drug rehab centers in such a negative light that the reality is actually quite incomprehensibly different than these depictions. Millions of people have gotten help for addiction and gone on to lead productive and fulfilling lives free from the bonds of substance abuse. However, there are plenty still who delayed treatment for one reason or another and suffered severe consequences by doing so. Because addiction is a progressive and

Working at Supportive Living Solutions helped me to understand substance abusers. Working closely with my clients, and having that background knowledge on their addiction, helped me put into perspective, why they suffered from substance abuse.  I sympathized with the clients. Helping them overcome the addiction was difficult. Especially since they were juggling mental illness and substance abuse, some of the clients were homeless. The clients had many stresses which led them to fall into the trap of drug and alcohol addiction.

People are dying all around due to drug addiction and chemical dependency and unfortunately this is not a new problem. It is an ongoing problem that is escalating with very few results. With nearly one in 10 Americans over the age of 12 classified with substance abuse or dependence, addiction takes an emotional, psychological, and social toll on the country. The economic costs of substance abuse and addiction alone are estimated to exceed a half trillion dollars annually in the United States due to health care expenditures, lost productivity, and crime. “Is addiction a habit or a disease?”(Siegel). The most effective tools target cognitive and motivational processes such as self-determination,

With such a high cost to the nation, and so many people left untreated, there remains a large gap that needs to be addressed. Because substance abuse disrupts so many aspects of life, treatment is very complex. An effective program requires cessation of the drugs, maintaining a drug-free lifestyle, and being a productive, functioning member of society, as well as close follow up (NIDA, 2009).

Mr. Greene is a fifty-one-year-old black male, who started using crack- cocaine at thirty-two-years-old and is now twelve years clean. Bryan Sapp was a twenty-year-old white male that died of a heroin overdose whose addiction started at age twelve. Addiction does not discriminate. There are several different causes of addiction, lack of purpose, stress caused by trauma, unmet needs, and boredom are some of them (Rosen 23). On an average 40-60% of people struggling with addiction relapse. There are several different types of rehabilitations for addiction but, there is no cure. In our over medicated society that has led us to this war against addiction, alternative medications are not the alternative therapy to addiction.

Many men, women and children have recovered from an addiction. In most cases, part of the credit for their recovery belongs with the detox facilities that helped clear their systems of harmful substances. It's because of the nature of the process that a simplistic

A simple Google search looking at the concept of change with substance abuse clients brings up many articles and supported documented research on ways to assist substance abusers to change. There are so many documented approaches and treatments to substance abuse and many more articles outlining how counselors can make clients change. As our courseware material and articles outline it is not the best practice for the counselor to “make” the clients change but for counselor to see clients as the major driving force behind change. There are a number of reasons why it is important counselors see clients as the major driving force behind change and the first reason is that it improves treatment adherence. Another way of looking putting the client

True recovery from addiction requires a commitment to cleansing your life of the negative impact of addiction and starting over. There are many different life aspects that you must cleanse and doing so will help put you on the path to true recovery. Essentially, it will eliminate all distractions and help you tap

Though the treatments for drug addiction is complicated one, it is curable. The treatment is complicated because the addiction has it’s long term effects on the brain and behavior of the person. But if the person has strong determination, consistent on treatment then it make easy to quit the addiction.

When a person has a bad habit, he or she must stop the habit. If someone gets in the habit of doing cocaine and wants to stop. He or she must do anything but drugs to overcome the addiction. That person has to stay strong to overcome the addiction. The main focus should be on finding positive things to do.

Addiction is a “chronic disease characterized by drug seeking and use that is compulsive, or difficult to control, despite harmful consequences.” The initial decision to take drugs is voluntary for most individuals, but frequent drug use can lead to brain alterations that challenge an addicted person’s self-control and interfere with their ability to resist intense urges to take drugs. These brain alterations can be persistent, which is why drug addiction is considered a "relapsing" disease. People in recovery from drug use disorders are at increased threat for returning to drug use even after years of not taking the drug. It's common for an individual to relapse, but relapse doesn't mean that treatment doesn’t work. As with other chronic health conditions, treatment should be constant and should be adjusted based on how the patient answers. Treatment plans need to be reviewed often and modified to fit the patient’s changing desires.