ADDICTION AND MENTAL HEALTH
This article will help you understand how addiction works? What are the causes and symptoms of addiction? How addiction affects your mental health? And most importantly, how you can use Psychotherapy to control and treat your addiction. So, read on to find how addiction works and how you can use Psychotherapy to successfully treat it and live a more meaningful life.
Addiction can be defined as being obsessed with an activity or substance that harms your physical and psychological wellbeing. Addiction gives you a rewarding sensation while you're at it, and its damages appear later on. Still, despite its negative consequences, you find it difficult to put a stop to your craving. Let’s dig in further to find more.
Symptoms and Signs:
So, what draws the line between simple abuse and addiction? Here are some symptoms and signs that can indicate you’re dealing with addiction rather than substance abuse or dependence:
Inability to stop: Even if you know it is dangerous or harmful, you keep on using it because you can not control your craving. In cases of drugs, you are obsessed with them and cannot feel better without them.
Sacrificing Normal Life: You no longer take part in activities you enjoyed previously such as sports or hanging out. Your habits of sleep, your appetite, and your appearance are badly affected but you cannot regulate yourself from your bad habits.
Secrecy and Solitude: You do not want others to find out about your habits and you feel guilty if anyone knows about it. You stop socializing and try to keep much to yourself.
Maintaining a steady supply: You are concerned about maintaining a good supply despite financial instability. In cases of drugs, you make sure you have them and prioritize their presence over other important things.
Causes of Addictions
Now let's see the roots of addiction and how you fall into this trap. While there are many factors that can lead you to have an uncontrollable obsession. Here are some of the main culprits that can push you towards addictions:
Genetical Factors: 50-60% of a person’s habits and choices are decided by their genetic make-up. Your inclination towards a habit or drug can be because of your genetics. That’s why some people can’t seem to live without alcohol while others don’t like it even without restrictions.
Family Inheritance: If you have a long history of drug abuse or any other damaging habit in your family, then chances are you have inherited the addiction from them.
Coping Mechanism: You see your addiction as a way of avoiding stress or depression. You want to keep using them so you can relax or escape reality. This is one of the key reasons people choose substance abuse.
Social Pressure: You have friends that use drugs and drink alcohol so you feel pressured to do the same. Peer pressure is sometimes the leading cause of people’s addiction journeys.
Addictions and Mental Health:
Now let’s discuss the elephant in the room. Addictions cause lots of problems with your mental wellbeing. Mental health is what makes addiction so harmful. Let’s see some adverse effects of addictions on mental health.
Normal Functioning of Brain: Our brains normally give us dopamine as a reward for completing tasks. While with drugs, you can do it unnaturally and almost instantly. This disrupts the normal functioning of your brain and also weakens your brain’s natural processes. Over time you become dependent on the drug for your happiness and without it you feel irritated, angry, abusive anxious and even abusive.
Depression, PTSD, and Other Disorders: Alcohol and drug abuse can drastically lower your mental health and cause mood disorders with excessive consumption. Different phobias, Bipolar disorder, ADHD, anxiety, depression, and even Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and the list goes on. These effects follow along after continued drug and substance abuse.
Psychosis, Self-Harm, and Death: Heinous crimes and acts of self-harm have been committed under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Overuse of drugs and alcohol can seriously damage your body, making your life much shorter. Drug overdoses can cause death in most cases.
Paranoia and Self-image: Serious drug addictions can cause a social boycott and can cause damage to a person’s self-image due to the community’s backlash. This over long-term can cause paranoia and increase depression further in addicts.
Psychotherapy and Treatment:
The great news is that psychotherapy and other treatments can help you get back on track. Psychotherapy has been proven to be a powerful and effective approach to dealing with Addiction. Even the most serious of cases have benefitted and improved their lives. You can choose either self-practicing techniques, individual sessions with a Psychotherapist or even group sessions to treat your addictions. Let’s see how Psychotherapy helps:
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
This treatment is a skill that can last for a lifetime. CBT teaches you to identify and recognize thoughts, behaviors, and moods that fire up cravings. You can learn to identify triggers and stop them from taking control over you. It helps you get to the roots of your problems and really understand why it needs to stop and most importantly, how you can stop it.
A skilled therapist teaches you how you can detect and control negative behaviors and how you can counter them with positive actions. CBT not only works for addictions but can help you overtake any challenging mental obstacle in your life. With time, you return to your normal functioning of the brain and even better in some cases.
12-Step/ Group Therapy
Especially focusing on Alcohol and Narcotic addictions, this mode of Therapy involves you to go through active participation in different therapies including group sessions. This helps you communicate with people who have been in similar conditions, learn from how they helped themselves and use a therapist’s guidance where needed.
It helps you learn different techniques on how to solve your specific problems related to addictions. This aids you to improve by socializing and ultimately staying sober for longer, kicking any drug habit in the process.
Maintenance Therapy
This therapy follows after your initial therapies and makes sure you do not face any problems in the long run. Some patients might relapse, or encounter difficulties in the long run. Maintenance therapy keeps repairing any problems with time and keeps you updated with both mental tools and medications if needed. This ensures you stay sober for long-term, getting completely rid of your addictions.
The Takeaway
Addictions can be devastating and have adverse effects on both your physical and mental wellbeing. But the good news is, there’s hope. Even in the worst cases, people have benefitted from Psychotherapy and so can you. Joel and Charlie would be a great fit for you!
Give it a try. It can be your first step towards improving yourself to live a long and meaningful life. For more information on treatment plans for addition or to see if psychotherapy is right for you, please call us 647-267-9853.