Navigating the Stages of Addiction: Causes and Recovery Strategies

Abstract

Institutional Affiliation 26th March 2021 Causes of Addiction Drug addiction is a serious illness in the contemporary society. It has specific process that leads to an individual becoming an addict. There are specific stages that describe the process of addiction and factors that explain the causes of addiction. In order to heal from drug addiction, the patient can recover through certain therapy. Motivational Interviewing is one of the therapies that can help addicts recover and build their lives. STAGE 1: Experimentation with causal use This stage is the experimentation process that leads to the use of substance abuse. It happens mostly to the people of 12-13 years who are feeling bored, those influenced by peer pressure, and others out of mere curiosity. The reason a person moves on from the casual use stage to the abuse stage depends on certain factors. First, the genetic predisposition which is a genetic feature that causes the possibility of phenotype growth of a person from a species within a given environmental condition (Patterson, 2020). For instance, it is a member of a family that can be born with the genetic condition. In order to progress to the abuse stage, the individual has to use or drink for the gene to be activated. Second, whether the use produces the desire effects. For instance attending a party with the intention of getting high but it backfires and makes you crazy or you begin to drink and it makes you feel good for a while. Third, if the drugs are highly available and acceptable by peers or family. When friends and family members tend to drink a lot, it sets example for the children that it is okay to use drugs. Fourth, when one is experiencing psychological or emotional issues of which the substance temporary extinguishes. For instance those going through Post-traumatic disorder or depression can decide to take a drink and it eases their pain or helps them to forget for the moment. These factors are the reasons for a person to move from the causal use stage to the abuse phase. STAGE 2: Abuse In this stage, the main cause of abuse is coping. This stage is attributed with daily or a predictable pattern of drinking as a way of coping. The people can abuse the drug in seclusion or in the company of friends. Many people continue to drink with to with negative feelings such as untreated mental illness and insecurities. The person might have experienced a traumatising incident such as rape or domestic violence while growing up but they never got the chance to go for counselling (Patterson, 2020). Now these experiences have turned into insecurities that can only be eased by using drugs. The abuse can also progress to the risky use especially with the drinking patterns of daily or every weekend. Risky use makes the person to start displaying unsafe characteristics for instance going to work after drinking (Patterson, 2020). These dangerous behaviours can also affect the relationship between the user and his family or friends. In order to cope with this certain change in their lives or the already existing traumas, the abuse will continue (Patterson, 2020). At this point, the person might start showing signs of addiction since the substance has started to become a central point in their system. STAGE 3: Dependency Causes In this stage, the dependency is caused by two concepts. First, the person start depending on drugs since their lives has negatively changed due to addiction. The dependency will make an individual unable to fulfil their responsibilities leading to negative effects of addiction such as dropping out of school, being fired from your job and even facing the risk of being homeless (Patterson, 2020). Regardless of all these, the person will continue to abuse drugs even more as the only alternative. Depending on the drug means the user has developed restraint and now the body needs unsafe amount to feel good once more. Intense cravings for the substance either physical or psychological are also hyped at this stage to the extent of driving while high (Patterson, 2020). Hence the user cannot stop using the substance because this can cause withdrawal symptoms such as fever or intense vomiting (Patterson, 2020). The problems will continue to overwhelm the user which means the intakes of drugs will also increase leading to the high dependency. Second, the science behind the addiction that causes dependency. When the drug is introduced to the body, the reason one feel euphoria is because the body releases a lot more chemicals. However after a lot of uses, the body cannot produce these natural feelings because it ran out. So, the only way of not feeling ill is to continue the use of the drug. THERAPY: Motivational Interviewing (MI)...