Sometimes there is a perception that addiction is something that is or is not in the character of a person. At Laguna Rehab Beach, people can break the cycle of addiction. This notion can lead to the belief that someone struggling with addiction to a substance may have drunk or tried illegal drugs and instantly became addicted. However, the reality is much more complicated than expected.
It’s often a combination of circumstances that causes someone who occasionally enjoys drinking or avoids substance abuse to become addicted to drugs or alcohol over time. The process of addiction development tends to take place in several stages and, like any chronic disease, often develops into a cycle of addiction, medication or abstinence and relapse.
The Stages of Addiction
Sometimes, these stages may occur simultaneously. As an example, for illicit substances used to feel high, even one use is considered to be abuse. People don’t understand that they are getting addicted to something that they never want. In the majority of cases, all of these steps are part of the cycle of addiction and are really tough to understand.
However, for the vast majority of people struggling with rehab addiction, there are stages of substance use or abuse that lead to the circumstances resulting in the person becoming addicted. The stage that develops in someone’s life that cannot be understood by the person until he reaches the extreme level of that condition.
Stage 1: Initial Use
There are many reasons why someone struggling with addiction might try the substance first. It can seem as innocuous as receiving a prescription for pain relief or a mental health problem, as odd as trying your first drink at age 21, or as dangerous as pressure from friends or family to try illegal drugs. Regardless of how the initial use takes place, it is the first step towards addiction.
Whether this initial consumption is likely to lead to addiction often depends on the circumstances of the individual. However, even these risk factors do not necessarily put people at high risk of developing substance use disorders such as addiction. Other contributing factors often play a role, including the later stages of the addiction.
Stage 2: Tolerance
When a person has been using a prescription drug or abusing other substances over a long period, the substance can cause changes in the brain that result in tolerance. The person using the substance may increase the dosage or frequency of use to try to find the same feeling.
With methamphetamine or other stimulants, this may involve loss of certain brain chemical receptors or reduced production of brain chemicals. Gradually, a person’s brain adapts and changes the way it responds to the presence of drugs.
Stage 3: Dependence
After a certain point, the body and brain becomes dependent on having the substance to be able to function properly. As an example, a person who has been using cocaine or meth for a long time may find it impossible to feel pleasure without the drug. It is a condition called anhedonia. It becomes dependent on that drug to feel good separate from the condition being treated, it will be a type of dependence that leads to addiction of drugs. Once the person will start taking the drugs then the person will become dependent and without taking it he will become unconscious.
Stage 4: Addiction
Addiction is a specific, chronic mental health disorder that results in defined symptoms and behaviors that can be used to diagnose the condition. In the addiction area the person doesn’t find a certain place for staying. The person will try to get the alcohol or drugs at every point of time. It is really not good for maintaining a good time with people.
Stage 5: Relapse
Interrupting the Cycle
An individual may go through multiple trails to stop using a substance before realizing that addiction is a factor which will damage the body. However, when addiction is diagnosed, it is possible to interrupt this cycle of addiction, abstinence, and relapse by getting professional treatment from rehab laguna beach which is backed by research showing its ability to help. Physical and mental health treatments can encourage the person to develop tools for managing this recurring condition.