Substance addiction is a leading cause of lost work productivity, health problems, financial distres...

1. Substance Addiction - InfoBarrel
Substance addiction is a leading cause of
lost work productivity, health problems,
financial distress, incarceration, domestic
violence, and death. It is hard to find
anyone that has not been touched in some
way by addiction, whether directly or
indirectly. Just because a person uses
alcohol or even illegal drugs does not
mean that he or she is addicted to them.
Addiction does not care about a person's
age, gender, social status, or race.
Substance addiction is defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-
IV) as tolerance, increased use of a drug(s) or alcohol, and withdrawal. Withdrawal symptoms can
range from physical symptoms like nausea, diarrhea, sweating, insomnia, and flu-like symptoms to
psychological symptoms such as depression, anxiety, irritability, and restlessness. Too much time
spent obtaining, using, and withdrawing from the drug are also symptoms of addiction. An important
marker for substance addiction is a person continuing to use the drug(s) and alcohol regardless of
negative consequences. Many addicts will use the justification that they can stop anytime and/or that
they have stopped using for some length of time yet they return to use. While stopping is good, it is
the return to use that hints of addiction. A very important question to ask regarding substance
addiction and drug use is whether or not the person using the drug(s) or alcohol keeps using or
going back to use after they have realized that the drug caused them problems in the past.
For people who reach a pivotal point in their substance addiction their body can give out on them.
This will manifest physically by a person who has a sudden loss of tolerance. Sometimes the body
gets so saturated and depleted that it can no longer process the substances. This results in a person
using less of the drug or alcohol and it having the same effect. So, if a person used to be able to
drink a six pack of beer and get a slight buzz, but now they drink it and get drunk this signifies a
drop of tolerance and possibly liver damage.
It is important to remember that addiction is a chronic, debilitating, and deadly brain disease that
does not have anything to do with morality or will power. Addiction is highly stigmatized by society
and causes a lot of damage both to individuals and those around the addict. The term substance
addiction is used interchangeably with chemical dependency, addiction, and alcoholism. A person
crosses the line from drug abuse to addiction when the choice to use is no longer present. For
example, a person can use heroin on a weekend, abuse it and have devastating consequences from
it, but when this use goes to several days, increased use of heroin, and then withdrawal symptoms
upon stopping the use, it crosses the line into addiction.
Substance addiction is hard to treat and tends to be a chronic relapsing disease. Traditional
treatment centers are starting to change, but the change is slow. As more people realize that
addiction is literally a neurological disorder because of the physiological changes that occur in a

2. person's brain when they become addicted then the attitude toward treatment will drastically
change.