Realizing and working on the habit of your addiction to prescription drugs, alcohol or street drugs—or any other addiction-is an achievement. You got to be proud of yourself, yet you have a long road to walk.
Our country is suffering from an alarming growth in alcohol and drug addiction. According to the recent statistic, around 23 million people in the U.S. are living with addiction and only 10% seek or receive treatment for the condition.
As per recent studies by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 96% of people suffering from substance abuse are not seeking help because they believe they don’t treatment. The remaining felt the need for treatment but couldn’t find it or did not try to seek help.
Nearly, 19.4 million drug addicts don’t feel the need for help—despite any wreckage, loss, fallout, heartache or other serious consequences.
While the struggle of recovery is difficult and personal, here are three reasons why you should seek help or treatment.
1. Emotional Loss: One of the most common behaviors of drug addicts is withdrawal from loved ones—family, friends, and social groups. They avoid spending time with their family in exchange for time with the drugs. But the truth is, your family and loves ones are trying to help you get out of the addiction. With this behavior, you’re creating a barrier between you and your family. The ones who are standing behind to support your recovery. At this crucial time, you’re suppressing your emotional side which makes you vulnerable and it becomes harder for you to work on addiction. When you see yourself standing in the busy lane all alone with your body shivering and brain craving for more drugs, the loneliness and addiction kill you both mentally and physically.
2. Financial Loss: Addiction comes at a hefty price, isn’t it? You need money to fund your addiction, but this cost surpasses your savings. It becomes common for you to miss work regularly. You might borrow money from your loved ones to meet the urges of drugs or alcohol. But after all the savings and income loss to addiction, you are left broke and you have bills to be paid. Substance abuse and homelessness go hand in hand. In the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2016 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report, 202,297 homeless people have a history of chronic substance use or serious mental illness. It’s a wake up to make a change.
3. Health Loss: How does the drug affect your body? Different types of drugs affect your health in different ways. It has both short-term and long-term health outcomes. You find it difficult to sleep, think, and remember. Drugs harm your internal organs – pancreas, heart, brain, nervous system. You have worse acne, skin lesions or itchiness, baldness, mood swings, and unpredictable behavior. Drug overdose is negatively changing the way your body functioning. There are roughly 4.6 million emergency cases related to drug abuse in 2009. Drug-related symptoms bring you to the edge of your life and your life choices. Having a near-death experience is enough to convince you to say, “I’ve to talk to my therapist” and treatment.
What are the treatment options?
Addiction is more than just dependence on alcohol or drugs. Detox is a great start but being sober however, it’s not enough. Certain social and psychological factors can lead to relapse.
- Extreme mental stress
- A social gathering or visiting a neighborhood
- Spending time on social networks
The treatment options available for drug abuse includes-
- Alcohol rehab- intensive treatment for alcoholism that can help achieve sobriety in the short term.
- Medical detox- for alcohol withdrawal symptoms, medical detox is necessary. Alcoholism can lead to severe cases of hallucinations, seizures, and neurological disorders.
- Family therapy- a dysfunctional communication, trauma, and strained relationships in a family can lead to different mental illness. The therapist identifies those factors and works on the root cause of drug abuse.
- Group Therapy- Group therapy is one of the preferred therapies. In this, you’re more likely to be both supported and challenged by your peers who are suffering from similar drug abuse.
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy- CBT teaches you to recognize thoughts, moods, and situations that are the major cause of drug cravings. A professional therapist helps you to avoid those triggers. You’ll learn to transform your negative thoughts into a positive one.
- 12-Step Training Programs- The 12-step program was developed by Alcoholics Anonymous that establish a guideline to overcome alcohol addiction. It’s a step-by-step process for overcoming addiction. It’s also called an abstinence-based program.
When you realize the drug, addiction is killing your life, the only way is to find help- within yourself, your family, or a third-party. Once you make peace with your current condition, you do what’s necessary to change your life- enroll in social services, sign up for rehab, talk to a therapist, ask for help from the right people. Speak to someone who understands your pain, experience the same feeling, and willing to pull you out from the darkness.