Posts Tagged ‘Define Drug Abuse’

When you define substance abuse medically, it encompasses drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

When you define substance abuse medically, it encompasses drugs, alcohol and tobacco.   Although there is no universally accepted definition, it is most often referred to as a disorder, which, according to the American Psychological Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, “leads to clinically significant impairment or distress.”

If certain recurring patterns of worrisome behavior are exhibited by an individual within a 12-month period, there may be real cause of concern for substance abuse. And perhaps considering, a Rehab Program on the Big Island of Hawaii in a place like Hawaii Island Recovery is in order.

To define substance abuse, one must first look for tell-tale signs that include poor performance in work, school or the home; involvement in physically hazardous situations or legally-related problems; and constant problems on the interpersonal and social levels. Then these must be tied with inordinate use or dependence on substances that may include legal or illegal drugs and tobacco, as well as excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages.

When all these elements are present, it is time to take appropriate and immediate action to address the problem of substance abuse. One option is to seek help through an addiction recovery program such as that offered by the Hawaii Island Recovery.

Family and friends are normally the first to recognize that something is wrong with an individual. However, they may not be able to define substance abuse as the culprit behind such changes. Slacking at work, failing in school, constantly exhibiting irritable or damaging behavior or being in a depressed state, losing money and valuables and avoiding friendships and family relationships are among the symptoms of substance abuse.

Do not ignore these instances. If you are not aware or cannot define substance abuse as the reason for these disturbing patterns of behavior, seek help. The earlier the intervention in these cases, the greater the chances of healing and reformation.

Alcohol is a legal substance. And tobacco, despite warnings of its hazardous effects on the human body, is not banned. Why are they lumped with cocaine, marijuana, heroin, metamphetamines, opiates and hallucinogens that are always included to define substance abuse?

Because all of them contain chemicals that work insidiously, first affecting the body’s central communication center — the brain — and then attacking the rest of the system often causing irreparable damage especially if the disorder is not immediately treated. Substance abuse can lead to cancers, cardiovascular diseases, liver cirrhosis, dementia and even death. Knowing all these facts that define substance abuse, the urgency to treat an individual suffering from this condition cannot be overemphasized.

However, recovery is not as simple as wanting to stop the habit. Even the Big Island Recovery Program at Hawaii Island Recovery, as customized and as focused as it is, will not guarantee immediate results unless the individual is fully committed to healing.

A next step to recovery is medical guidance and supervision. Often, when we define substance abuse it does not take into consideration that one factor which caused the disorder in the first place is some mental or behavioral imbalance. This must also be corrected, either through medication or other intervention methods for effective and complete recovery.

No matter how successful the Big Island Rehab Program at the Hawaii Island Recovery is, unless a relapse is prevented, the substance abuse problem will persist. Mental disorders not properly diagnosed and treated will always mean increased risk to turn to substance abuse.

Prevention is still the best way to cut the incidence of substance abuse. And this should start as early as childhood to build resistance skills even at an early age. It must be a joint effort between home and school and the more open the communication between adults and children, the stronger you can foster these skills to keep them away from conditions that will push them to turn to drugs, alcohol or tobacco.

A Big Island Recovery Program offered by places like the Hawaii Island Recovery is merely a tool for intervention. Even they would advocate early prevention as crucial to eliminate the problem of substance abuse.

The medical world will continue to clearly define substance abuse in its quest to seek other solutions to this growing menace. Genetics, environmental factors, social pressures, and even the individual make-up all play a part that may lead to substance abuse. Coping skills have to be developed far earlier than originally thought of. In fact, it is the absence of good coping skills that leads an individual into the use of substances that act as panacea to all that ails him.

When we define substance abuse, we must also look at the importance of  support groups.   The need to talk, the need to vent, the need to be heard are what individuals who are hurting want to do. And when there’s no one to listen, to offer support, to help, that’s when any substance becomes the friend.

We live in a culture that values success and looks down on failures. This has to change if we are to help those that falter and fall behind. When we define substance abuse, we must look at our society and culture. At our own beliefs and our own moral convictions. The challenge nowadays to find ways to reverse a culture that has become susceptible to this problem that has untold consequences. For when one of us is hooked on drugs or any substance for that matter, we all suffer.

For more information or if you are suffering from addiction please call Hawaii Island Recovery at 866-906-6911.

First, we define drug abuse as a complex disorder characterized by an intense and compulsive craving, taking and seeking for drugs, which eventually lead to significant problems. The complexity of the disease roots from the effect of drug intake which when exposed to the brain for a prolonged time, the addiction itself becomes the disease and this affects multiple brain circuits including those involved in reward and motivation, learning and memory, and inhibitory control over behavior.

Before knowing the effects of drugs, it would be more appropriate to be familiar first with the common drugs used for abuse.  When we define drug abuse, there are actually two drugs involved in this definition – the illegal drugs and the prescription drugs. In addition to the two, even if they are not in the form of drugs, certain substances are also included since they still give the user the euphoric or high feeling if used. A common example of this is the household cleaner.

What are the common drugs used for abuse?

One of the commonly used and abused substances is nicotine which can be found in cigarettes. This is one of the most heavily used addictive drugs and is the leading preventable cause of disease, disability and death.

Another group of illegal drugs is the cannabinoids and this includes marijuana wherein this drug is the most commonly used illegal drug in the US. The Opiates which includes heroine and codeine are called narcotics and they are known to decrease the functioning of the nervous system.

Another known illegal drug is cocaine and they can be taken through snorting or can also be injected directly in the body if in liquid form. Drugs usually used in clubs are MDMA or more commonly known as ecstasy. Other names of this drug are XTC or the love drug.

Aside from illegal drugs, drug abuse can involve prescription medication. These kinds of prescription medications give the user a high feeling. There are depressants like barbiturates and benzodiazepines to reduce the pain and anxiety felt by the user.

In contrary to depressants, stimulants like amphetamine are used to give the person an increased mental alertness. The amphetamine drug group comes in many forms and may actually be either prescription drugs like Ritalin and Adderall or can actually be in form of illegal ones too like meth. Anabolic steroid, which is usually used by athletes, doesn’t create intoxication effects but is still dangerous to use because of terrible psychological effects like aggression and paranoia.

To fully define drug abuse, now that we know the substances used for drug abuse, its effects on the person physiologically and psychologically shall be discussed. When a person gets involved in drugs, the body part mostly affected is the brain. No matter what drug is used by the person, the substance affects the executive functioning areas of the brain. Because of this, the person’s ability to plan, organize, act out something and the ability to prevent one’s self to do something becomes impaired and this impairment is usually the culprit in making the user aggressive and be involved in crimes.

Since the physiological effect of the drug attacks the brain, it also has a significant psychological effect on the user as well. Regardless of the drug used, a substance abused could result to something devastating. It can either give the person a euphoria feeling or make the person severely depressed or suicidal. This just shows that drug abuse encompasses a whole lot more drugs than what’s commonly known.

Aside from the personal effects experienced by the user, drug abuse also creates a big impact in a larger scale like in the country’s economy, society and laws. If an economist would define drug abuse, the economist would probably tell you how much money is spent by the government because of this issue. According to NIDA, $67 billion per year is spent on the drug abuse problem and this includes the cost of law enforcement, incarceration, treatment, traffic injuries etc.

As mentioned earlier, it is not enough to define drug abuse or to know its effects. Once this information about drug abuse and effects are known, steps must also be made to treat the patient or the substance abuser. Contrary to popular myth, overcoming addiction is not simply a matter of willpower. Since this affects the brain, treating addiction involves a series of steps and it really takes time for the patient to be healed and restored.

There is a Hawaii Addiction Treatment Center called Hawaii Island Recovery which aims to help clients transform their lives back to who they were before drug abuse took over. Hawaii Island Recovery is a Big Island Drug rehab which provides a beautiful therapeutic living facility . With the help of the highly trained and experienced professional staff, the beautiful scenery and treatment therapy that works, clients have a higher rate of recovery. Hawaii Island Recovery is the ideal Big Island Recovery facility to help clients gain back their lives stolen by substance and drug abuse.

Drug abuse may also be summed up in one word: death. It is a progressive disease. The addict may not be physically dead but because of the drugs’ effects, the life of the addict is slowly taken away by being a slave to these harmful substances. Families are affected by drug abuse and so does society. Drug abuse has tentacles and is very insidious. Addiction treatment and the road to recovery is not easy, but with commitment and lots of family and therapeutic support, it can be done. Habits can be unlearned. There are many successes that prove this.

If you or a family member is suffering from addiction please call Hawaii Island Recovery at 866-906-6911.