Substance Abuse Intervention

There is a lot of media and press on the subject of substance abuse intervention these days, there are even television shows covering the topic. What happens in most cases of drug and alcohol addiction is the person ceases to track with reality to a greater or lesser degree. They simply don’t see the situations or consequences that are as clear as day to you or I. Their ability to move their attention away from their own drug induced mental and physical pain and out onto their environments is markedly reduced and they are not aware. This can be quite frustrating to loved ones trying to help, as what is obvious to us is simply not real to the addict in many cases. A substance abuse intervention should be designed to give the addict enough assistance with his external observations that the situations and consequences that his or her addiction is creating once again become real to him or her. When the addict feels the threat of pain and loss from his environment is greater than the threat of pain or loss from drugs he or she usually becomes willing to do something, thought this may be reluctantly.

The cycle of addiction begins with a problem, discomfort, or physical or emotional pain. Drugs or alcohol are used in an effort to find relief. Short term temporary relief is found which give the drug or alcohol value in the eye of the user. When confronted with the problem, pain, etc. again in the future the individual is prone to use the drug or alcohol again. The problem arises when it takes more and more of the drug or alcohol to get the same effect and instead of handling the source of the problem or pain the drugs are continually used to mask the symptoms while the problem itself continues to get worse. The drugs and alcohol themselves create new physical problems, shut of awareness and ability, all of which simply increases the symptoms to the point of the person being obsessed with finding and using the drugs or alcohol to numb himself, despite consequences to self and family.

When you consume more drugs than your body can tolerate a drug overdose can occur. Most drugs create a tolerance with increasing amounts needed to create the same effects. Drug abusers and addicts are constantly faced with the risk of a drug overdose. There can be a fine line between getting the high they're seeking and overdose leading to serious injury or death. Mixing drugs such as heroin, pills and alcohol is the most common cause of death by overdose. More and more participants in drug rehabilitation are reporting multiple drugs being abuse simultaneously. This vastly increases the medical complications that can result from this dangerous mixing of drug ‘cocktails’. This is all in addiction to the sometimes life threatening side effects that can occur from abusing prescription drugs especially painkillers and anti-depressants.

This is a broad general view of addiction as different substances create different symptoms and effects on the individual and often addiction is to more than one substance. Addiction generally is a condition characterized by repeated, compulsive seeking and use of drugs or alcohol despite adverse social, mental, and physical consequences. It is usually accompanied by physiological and physical dependence with the appearance of withdrawal symptoms when the drug or alcohol is rapidly decreased or terminated. When addiction exists, the drug use controls the individual rather than the individual controlling the usage.

Each drug, alcohol or toxin has its own long term effects as the result of abuse and addiction. There are a couple of common denominators however when it comes to the long term effects of addiction. One of these is the fact that these drugs and toxins can store in the fat tissues of the body for weeks, months, and even years after cessation of use. These can account for sometimes uncontrollable cravings for the drug or substance even though it hasn’t been used in sometime. Strong feelings of guilt and depression are also common long term effects of addiction due to sacrificing of integrity and values that accompanies the addictive lifestyle. These three points are common to addictions of all sorts and are the reason for continued use and relapse.