Reasons, Symptoms & Examples Of Drug Addiction

Drug addiction starts by genetics, depression and even stress. If your doctor prescribes you an antidepressant, you might want to overdose with it. You might start off with marijuana. If that is not doing anything for you, you might go to heroin, LSD, acid, etc. Drugs (even if they are prescriptions) could be dangerous to the brain. Alcohol is considered a drug as well. Anything could be addictive, but the main thing that is unable to stop easily is drugs. Some types of drugs could mess you up more than others could. There is medicinal drugs, but people fake their symptoms just to get to the drug. People are crazy enough to drug others that do not even do drugs. Some addicts’ brains respond to drugs slower or faster than others.

How does somebody get addicted to such drugs? How do their family and/or friends deal with the person being addicted? How much does it take until they have reached overdose? There are examples of drug addiction all over the world. In reality, drug addiction is a complex disease, and quitting usually takes more than good intentions or a strong will. Some people quit cold turkey and they could potentially go through withdrawal. Withdrawal could do many harmful things to them socially, mentally, maybe even physically. Drugs change the brain in ways that make quitting hard, even for those who want to. People have this debate whether if any addiction is either a choice or a disease. It is clearly a disease. Relapse is very common for addicts. The treatment could or could not work, depending on how your body takes it. Someone could get addicted by their genetics, if someone that you look up to does it as well, age of first use, mental illnesses, and early childhood trauma. “Genes provide information on how our bodies respond at a cellular level. 99 percent of our genes are the same, while the 1 percent that are different account for things like hair and eye color, height, and even the potential for heart disease, diabetes or addiction to drugs and alcohol” (Inspire Malibu, 2018).

There is a chemical called dopamine, which when you take the drugs, it flows through your brain making it hard to quit. The family of the addict cares for them and tries to do everything they could to help their loved one. They would call hotlines, rehabilitations, or therapists to make them stop what they are taking to ruin their lives and bodies. The family plays specific roles to help the family and the addict go through this. There are six roles for the addict to understand better functional families. They are the enabler, the mascot, the hero, the scapegoat, the lost child and the addict. The enabler is typically a loved one of the addict. As the enabler, they take one the personal responsibilities of the addict, whether it is finances/ bills or childcare (if the addict has children). The enabler has good intentions but may be very toxic to the addict. It is very typical of the enabler to accept the responsibilities of the addict, even help them get their fix, whether it is physically bringing them to a dealer or paying for the substance being abused. Enabling the addict helps them pass on their responsibilities to another and sending the message that this behavior has not and most likely will not change from either of the parties without professional help and or an intervention.

There are many examples all over the world. Tons of celebrities went through addiction. Some survived and went to rehab, but others sadly did not make it. The people who had drug addictions and went to rehab were Eminem, Zac Efron, Demi Lovato, etc. The people who did not survive were Mac Miller, Cory Monteith, Prince, etc. My own cousin started drugs at 18 years old. He did marijuana, but that did not do anything for his pain. He went to cocaine, heroin, even LSD. Currently, he is not doing so well. He is now 28. He is still alive, but he is not functioning. He has a strong heart, but he is also brain-dead. He has been in a hospital bed for a little over 10 years. My uncle was devastated about it. He still visits him every day. My uncle had to cope with it and distract himself with his other kids. He decided to start over again and he hopes they do not take after him.