What Is An Addiction?

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Addiction should not be confused with habit. Habit is something that we do normally and may not have negative consequences but addiction is dependency on something to cope with our daily lives. With time, addiction leads to negative consequences and starts hindering our daily activities. Habits can be kicked off whereas addiction is difficult to get rid of. Addicts are normally sent to rehabilitation centers of health care for treatments.

There are different types of addictions: alcohol, drug abuse, food, shopping, internet, video game, television, nicotine, work, gambling etc. Too much of anything is addiction and lack of control is what causes addiction. An addict has no control over himself that is why; it becomes difficult for an addict to quit. Addicts require help and are sent to rehabilitation centers for treatment but there is no guarantee of an addict not straying back to his old ways.

Too much abuse can corrode an addict’s mental as well as physical state. An addicted person becomes withdrawn, irritable, stops socializing, starts craving for more and more. In many cases, he has to steal in order to satisfy his cravings, he gets very violent and hysterical if he does not get what he wants. Physically, he has no control over his actions, too much of substance abuse can damage a person’s internal as well as external organs and make him crippled. In most cases, the person dies if not treated on time or if his body has been abused by excessive addiction.

It is important for all individuals to maintain a disciplined life and not to get swayed by addictions. Practice self-control and do not get tempted to try out illegal stuffs. There are lot of self-awareness programs and health reform programs conducted by several NGO’s. If you see a person, developing an affinity towards anything that is harmful, stop and help the person.

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The Primary Telltale Sign of Alcohol Addiction

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The fact that people drink a lot does not necessarily make them an alcoholic; though it could be a warning sign. Alcohol addiction involves much more than that. It can take place even in a person who doesn’t drink very much. There are many signs that give away the condition, but one is perhaps more important than all others.

There a different kinds of drinkers: social, binge and alcoholics. That’s not to say that social drinking cannot lead to dependence, nor that binge drinking is not a form of alcoholism.

True social drinkers can take it or leave it. They may not drink very often and usually don’t drink much in one episode. Binge drinkers may go on an intense drinking spree that lasts for days or weeks. Binging may or may not be a sign that they are dependent on alcohol.

How Will You Know for Sure if You are an Alcoholic?

The most important question to ask to determine if you are dependent is: Does it make your life unmanageable.

An unmanageable life is one in which a person has lost control of controllable events. Those events include but are not limited to family, jobs, money, spiritual activities, and health. These are typically hard to maintain for an alcoholic.

Not all of these signs have to be present to point to alcoholism, but more than one usually exists. Normally, when an alcoholic hits bottom, he has lost, or is on the verge of losing, most everything. This is because life has become unmanageable.

The most important thing a person can do if alcohol addiction has made life unmanageable is seek treatment. It is not something that most sufferers can defeat alone. Most every sizeable community offers both physical help for detoxification, as well as mental health and social support help for long-term rehabilitation.

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Living with Addictive Behavior

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Some people may not realize it when they are younger, but as they get older and put things together, they may realize that they suffer from having an addictive behavior. Certainly, that behavior can make life difficult, but the most important thing is that when a person discovers they have it, they are half way down the road to controlling it.

People who have an addictive personality can’t seem to get enough of anything they enjoy. Their addictions can be many, and they can happen in parallel or the person may bounce from one to the next.

Addictive behavior can be destructive for the sufferer. On the other hand, if the person realizes he is that way, there are ways he can learn to control it. It doesn’t have to be something that destroys his life.

People who live with this kind of problem have a variety of things that can become their targets. Some of those things are good and some are bad.

For example, a destructive person may find they have a food addiction. Normally you wouldn’t think of food as something to which a person can be addicted, but it is. The person can get a mental dependence on it. He wouldn’t have physical withdrawals from not eating, but it wouldn’t be pleasant for him.

Tobacco, alcohol, drugs and sex are all things that someone with an addictive behavior might turn to. Normally, addictions like this go hand in hand. That’s not to say that all smokers are drinkers, etc. Each addictive personality has his own list of things that turns him on.

On the other hand, a person can get addicted to positive things. Exercise is a good thing and can sometimes replace negative addictions. However, even exercise can be taken too far. It’s important to use an element of control and moderation in all things.

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How Depression Affects Alcoholism and Vice-Versa

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Suffering from long-term depression and bipolar disorder can make a person so desperate he will do most anything to get out of it. Not the least of these is drinking; which is very common in those with depression. In the beginning, it seems to help.

Self-medicating by using alcohol to ease depression is very common in mental disorder sufferers. In fact, it may be more uncommon to find a depressive who doesn’t drink or use drugs. It provides an element of relief for them.

Unfortunately, that is like trying to kill a bear with a fly swatter. Alcohol is a depressant, and you can’t treat depression with a depressant.

Consequently, the disorder gets worse and the sufferer often begins to drink even more to alleviate it. The cycle continues until the depressive not only has a psychological addiction to the alcohol, but a physical one. Now he has two problems with which he must deal: the mental disorder and the addiction.

Before any treatment for depression can be effective, the substance abuser must quit drinking permanently. Taking the prescribed antidepressants will be of no use as long as the abuser keeps drinking.

In addition to those problems, the scenario brings up another. When a person has been severely depressed and drinking heavily for a long time, the mind begins to think differently. Things that would have never made occurred to him before now start to seem appealing.

This can lead to a sufferer of depression and alcoholism to contemplate, and maybe go through with, suicide. All he wants is relief, and that might be the only way he sees in his clouded mind.

It is imperative to help someone become aware of the effects that alcohol has on depression. The patient cannot get better until the dependency is successfully treated. This will give the antidepressants a chance to work; and, the desire to self-medicate may go away.

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Clutter Addiction and Hoarding

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Everyone has collections that that cherish. However, sometimes those collections can get out of hand. In those situations the general idea is to store the items or go through other items and decide what to keep and what to give away. Unfortunately, there are some people who can not make that type of decision and feel that every possession must be kept. The addiction to their collections and accumulating more things is called clutter addiction or hoarding. Hoarding can be a serious addiction with terrible and sometimes irreversible consequences.

Hoarding or clutter addiction can cost someone their health, homes, and families. The situations become so dire that even being able to live a normal life may become to difficult if not impossible. Hoarding objects begins to take over every aspect of the home. In some cases trash and hazardous waste can take over and blend in along with the hoarded objects that the addict finds so dear. When someone steps in to help it may actually make the situation worse.

Hoarding addicts feel that everything must kept. They feel that they have everything under control and that there is not a problem with keeping their possessions in exactly the manner in which they have them. If someone were to come in and move or get rid of one item it could mean a psychological breakdown for the addict. They may begin to believe that everything has to be protected and that something is now amiss in their world.

Treatment plans for this type of addiction are generally done in a one on one environment. The treatment counselor will obtain a home organizer, cleaning crew, and get the family and friends involved. There is intense therapy that requires moving through the items in the home and getting a home back to a normal living environment. This can cause major upheaval and psychological trauma that requires further intense therapy. This is an addiction that is as wide spread as alcoholism and has conflicting views among medical and addiction professionals as to weather it is an actual addiction or a mental health issue.

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Gambling …The Lesser Known Addiction

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Gambling is a form of entertainment that has been around for a very long time. In one form or another, it is available, in virtually every area in the United States.
From lottery tickets, to casinos, or even a church bing hall, gambling is almost everywhere. For many people, it is a simple diversion, but for others it quickly evolves into a full blown addiction that can cost them their jobs, their families, and their very integrity. Chargecoalition.org strives to help people find their solution.

Signs of an Addiction To Gambling

Some of the most common signs that you have a problem with gambling include:

a)Experiencing a need to be secretive about the amount of time that you spend gambling or the amount of money that is spent.

b)Gambling with money that you either don’t have, or that you should spend on other things.

c)Lying about your losses or gains

d)Change in sleep patterns or eating patterns in order to pursue gambling

e)Borrowing money to fund gambling

The Road To Recovery

The road to recovery from addiction is a long and bumpy one. As with any other addiction, there are a number of different programs that are filled with recovering gambling addicts who often serve as mentors.

In addition to Gamblers Anonymous, cognitive-behavioral therapy has been an effective treatment tool for many addicts. It works by rewiring the brain to
think differently about, and thus feel differently about, gambling. A dominant theory is that if a person doesn’t feel the endorphin rush associated with gambling, he or she will no longer experience an overwhelming need to do so.
Chargecoalition.org has a lot of information on how to change your life.

An example of cognitive-behavioral therapy is the Four Steps Program. It utilizes four principles of change. Those steps are relabel, re-attribute, refocus, and revalue.

If you have tried to quit before, and have been unable to, you always have the option to try again. Addiction is a tricky disease, and requires a lot of care to manage. Chargecoalition.org exists to help people discover how to quit.

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Xanax Abuse Partially Caused by Ineffective US Healthcare System

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When prescribed by a conscientious physician, the use of Xanax and other benzodiazepines are an effective way to manage short-term stress. Appropriate uses might include helping a patient deal with the loss of a loved one, struggling through stressful situations at work, or facing phobias. Xanax and similar drugs, however, have a high rate of abuse, especially when prescribed by doctors who do not carefully manage their patients’ use of the drugs. Long-term and inappropriate use, therefore, often leads to addiction.

Recent research has shown that ER visits involving the nonmedical use of prescription drugs has increased 111 percent in the past five years. This indicates that many doctors are not monitoring their patients well. Unfortunately, some patients could lack the willpower to resist the allure of frequent Xanax use. After all, when someone faces daily anxiety, it makes sense for him or her to turn to something that can alleviate those negative feelings.

Using some benzodiazepines daily for a week, however, can foster physical and psychological dependency.

Some doctors feel pressured to prescribe medications to their patients even when they know there is a risk of misuse. When a patient complains of anxiety symptoms and sleeplessness, compassionate doctors want to help those people find an effective way to overcome their problems. The only tools available to most general physicians are prescription drugs. They can also suggest exercise, improved diet, and other lifestyle changes, but few doctors have the training needed to address mental health concerns such as severe anxiety.

Xanax abuse, therefore, could stem from an ineffective healthcare system that fails to provide adequate treatment to patients with mental illnesses. A comprehensive system would make it easier for caring, responsible doctors to prescribe Xanax for short-term anxiety management while helping patients get the mental health care that they need to cope with life.

Long-term Xanax use can lead to unwanted conditions such as memory loss and paradoxical anxiety. To make matters even worse, patients frequently experience disastrous results when quitting Xanax “cold turkey.” Stopping Xanax use abruptly can cause seizures, severe anxiety, vomiting, heart palpitations, hallucinations, and fevers.

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