Addiction Solutions Victoria - WHAT IS ADDICTION?

"Addiction is a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterised by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite negative harmful consequences."

NIDA (National Institute of Drug Abuse).

These consequences can include problems with physical health, psychological health, dual diagnosis, and social stability; work; family; finances; legal issues and the breach of the person’s belief and value systems.

"I knew my life was spiralling out of control, I lost my job and I kept missing really important events like my mum’s birthday party, but it didn’t matter what people said or thought about me, whether I felt ashamed or sad or even happy, I kept using drugs. I remember when my family offered me an ultimatum, them or the drugs. I chose the drugs, with relief."

Anon

Addiction is like heart disease or diabetes—sometimes it’s linked with lifestyle choices, sometimes it's part of a family’s genetic heritage and other times it seems to come from nowhere.

And just like diabetes, correct management and monitoring over a person’s lifetime are important.

Addiction and Alcoholism both involve having obsessive thoughts, experiencing compulsive behaviours and losing control.

"Addiction almost destroyed my life, my hope and the trust of my family. My experience of recovery has been recovering my life, my relationships, my esteem and my overall wellness apiece at a time. It's hard work, but the rewards are amazing."

Untreated addiction can be lethal. For example, a person can die from an overdose or a drug-related motorcar accident. Addiction can also cause serious medical problems such as acquired brain damage, liver disease and heart problems.

People can lose their jobs, leave school prematurely and disconnect from their dreams and hopes.

The most obvious impact is on a person’s relationships including the ones with their families and close friends.

Anyone can develop an addiction

This confuses people. They and their families can spend a lot of time going over things and trying to find causes. Sometimes addiction can be linked with depression, anxiety or trauma; sometimes it’s the very cause of these conditions and sometimes there is no apparent tipping point or event.

It's impossible to tell when you've first become addicted. You might have been curious, or it could be the result of peer pressure and other factors such as stress relief; plenty of people turn to substances like drugs and alcohol for these reasons. But if your environment is one where there are a lot of drug users around, then chances are that you may go down this path too in the future-whether knowingly or not!

No matter how much someone plans on becoming an addict before they actually do so, no substance abuse disorder can ever be predicted ahead of time with 100% accuracy (not even close). There's always some chance involved whenever we make decisions about what sorts of things we'll put into our bodies.

Excessive substance abuse can have a number of negative effects on the body, but it is most evident in how drugs affect your brain. The surge that occurs when you ingest something like alcohol or cocaine creates large amounts of dopamine which triggers the reward system's pleasure receptors inside our brains. This causes us to continuously crave substances until we are unable to produce any more dopamine naturally and become addicted - creating these pleasurable cravings time after time without ever getting satisfied for long periods at all!

People who are addicted to drugs or alcohol find themselves in a difficult cycle where they need the drug just so that their body doesn't go through withdrawal. They start by prioritising getting high over anything else, and it can be hard for them to get out of this vicious circle before things spiral out of control

Of all the things that can go wrong when abusing drugs or alcohol, tolerance is one of the more insidious. Tolerance means larger amounts are required to achieve the effects desired by abusers which escalates addiction and leads to other consequences such as risk-taking behavior (i.e., driving while intoxicated) with potentially deadly results!

Whatever the causes and the losses, people recover from addiction all the time.

"Our son was like a stranger to us – addiction drove him to behave in ways we never expected. But we never gave up and now he’s loving and caring again. Thanks ASV, we’ve got our boy back."

Dad

The World Health Organisation has created alcohol and/or other drug self-screen designed to raise awareness of potentially harmful use of mind and mood-altering substances.

Click here to take the World Health Organisation (WHO) self-screen, discretely and anonymously in the privacy of your own home.

People do recover

Recovery from alcohol or drug addiction is a process of change through which individuals improve their health and wellness, live a self-directed life and strive to reach their full potential.

SAMHSA (Substance and Mental Health Society America).

Call Now

Call ASV for a free phone consultation

or for more information email

jason@addictionsolutionsvictoria.org.au

addictionsolutionsvictoria.org.au

addictionsolutionsgeelong.org.au

1227-1229 Malvern Road

Malvern, VIC 3144

"Most people we work with believe the problem (addiction) is the drugs or alcohol consumption and that when the person stops, everything can go back to normal. Stopping is only the beginning of the process. For most people who access treatment, developing a more genuine understanding of the nature of addiction provides them with the opportunity to look at the problem through a different lens, dramatically increasing the possibilities of a sustainable solution (recovery)". - Jase Bowman - ASV Rehabilitation Centre Near Me Program - Melbourne & Geelong 2020.

ASV staff provide programs that are delivered by experienced, qualified industry professionals.

For more information call Jason on 03 8374 7648

Email jason@addictionsolutionsvictoria.org.au

jason@addictionsolutionsgeelong.org.au

addictionsolutionsvictoria.org.au - addictionsolutionsgeelong.org.au

To access additional information and support, visit the Collective Recovery Support Network.