By recognizing these misconceptions, society can foster a more supportive and informed approach to addiction and recovery, allowing those affected to seek help without fear of stigma. These tremendous impulses may help one to understand the irrational and compulsive behaviors of an addict. Addicts will keep using and abusing substances, despite life-threatening circumstances. Quitting most often necessitates the help of professionals and treatment programs.
It’s Easy to Identify an Addict
A recurrence may be a sign that the treatment approach or other supports need to change, or that other treatment methods are needed. In other cases, harm-reduction providers — some of whom have personally reversed hundreds of overdoses — said failures in training had led to police misuse of naloxone. They blamed misinformation, as well as confusion stemming from the unpredictable effects of various animal sedatives in the street drug supply. Those tranquilizers, such as xylazine, can cause people to be heavily sedated, and are not affected by naloxone since they are not opioids. When a person takes a prescription medication in a larger dose or more often than intended or for a condition they do not have, it affects the same areas of the brain as illicit drugs and poses the same risk of addiction. People do not choose to become addicted any more than they choose to have cancer.
Myth: If your life is stable then you can’t be an addict.
Opioid addiction, or technically “opioid use disorder,” is defined as loss of control over use of opioids. This means that the person continues to use opioids despite negative consequences or is unable to stop using opioids despite wanting to. This person may also have a preoccupation with using opioids, obtaining opioids or craving for opioids. These patients may also develop tolerance or experience withdrawal when they stop using, but those symptoms by themselves do not define an opioid use disorder. It’s important to define opioid addiction carefully, because the stigma is so strong. Someone who is prescribed opioid medications for pain for prolonged periods may develop tolerance, which means they need a higher dose to get pain relief.
Realities of Addiction Recovery
Prescription medications have the potential to be as addictive and deadly as illicit drugs. If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, you’ve probably heard a lot of well-meaning advice from people who don’t truly understand. This makes it difficult to sort out the facts about drug abuse from fiction. This doesn’t mean previous treatments failed, because the person with addiction still made progress overall in getting well.
Drugs, Brains, and Behavior: The Science of Addiction
He said he’s administered naloxone “well over 100 times” in his two years working as a SEPTA Transit officer. Petty called for a medic over his police radio, then turned the man on his side. “You were dead on the platform, man,” he told the man, who refused medical care. More than 1,600 Philadelphia Police officers carry the medicine on their beats, including 65% of the Kensington patrol. Philadelphia Police and SEPTA representatives said officers are trained to deploy the medication when appropriate — and, when in doubt, err on the side of administering naloxone. Some harm-reduction providers were particularly incensed by a video circulating online, from March, that showed a SEPTA police officer repeatedly telling a man to get off the steps of a Market-Frankford El station.
Myth: If you relapse you will never recover.
I answered that this was a logical and true answer, since getting drugs on the street was always more deadly than taking drugs under medical supervision. But I added that this was not a sufficient explanation for drug deaths due to everything from stimulants to the whole array of depressant-analgesic drugs rising in lockstep. Whether you are seeking care for yourself or a loved one, call us today for a free, no-obligation consultation. Even people who take them as prescribed face a risk of becoming addicted, especially if they have a genetic predisposition to addiction. This myth ignores the complicated chemical changes that take place in an addict’s brain.
Exploring the Behavioral Aspects of Addiction
In fact, many people slip into using more harmful substances because they first became addicted to a prescription drug. It’s true that substance dependency and addiction is an urgent issue in the U.S. Every year millions of individuals are struggling with some type of drug abuse or dependency. Commonly abused prescription drugs include ADHD medications, narcotic pain medications and drugs intended to treat anxiety. Unfortunately, abuse of these drugs can be deadly, with nearly five young adults dyingeach day from prescription drug overdose.
- Even after several weeks in treatment, it’s crucial to have the support you need as you gain your life back.
- The opioid epidemic, for example, has touched lives in rural towns and bustling cities alike, affecting individuals from all backgrounds.
- This statistic refers only to those addicts who have completed their treatment programs successfully, and not everyone manages that.
- And nothing refutes personal agency like the so-called medical model that addiction is a disease invading from outside the person, a point of view propounded for decades by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
- At Healthgrades, our Editorial Team works hard to develop complete, objective and meaningful health information to help people choose the right doctor, right hospital and right care.
These statistics highlight that addiction is a chronic myths about addiction and recovery disease, and relapse is a common part of the recovery process. A common misconception surrounding addiction recovery is that relapse is a sign of treatment failure or a lack of commitment to sobriety. This belief can lead to feelings of shame, guilt, and hopelessness among those who experience relapse, and may discourage them from continuing their recovery journey.
Myth #8: If you relapse after rehab, you’re back to square one.
All these actions have been proven to motivate a person at risk to accept help. People with addiction have often become very disconnected from healthy activities and relationships. Helping them reconnect to these vital aspects https://ecosoberhouse.com/ of a healthy life can be pivotal in their wellness journey. Our peer coaches help teach concerned loved ones how to positively impact their unwell loved one while avoiding detachment and confrontation. Between 2015 and 2016, drug overdose deaths went from 33,095 to 59,000, the largest annual jump ever recorded in the United States. That number is expected to continue unabated for the next several years.
