Social Consequences Of Addiction
Socially, addiction often leads to legal problems, jail time, job loss and dropping out of school. Motivation to complete expected or everyday responsibilities is reduced significantly when substance use begins to impact ones life. Other social consequences include troubled relationships and increased interpersonal conflict.
Father Shares Story Of Loss To Inspire First Step In Addiction Recovery
FORSYTH COUNTY, N.C. Four years after the loss of his son to substance and drug abuse, Mike Pont has turned his sons story of addiction into that of a warning and sign of hope to save the lives of hundreds of addicts across the Piedmont-Triad.
I dont want my sons death to be the last chapter of his story, Pont said when he sat down to discuss an upcoming addiction recovery event in Forsyth County.
Pont, himself, lived in Boulder, Colorado with his son Jasper, and the rest of their family.
Addiction ran deep within the Pont family, with Mikes father suffering from alcohol abuse, which created the space for Mikes long-term addiction to alcohol.
It was hard to go to a family reunion and not find someone who wasnt drinking, he said.
His son Jaspers journey through addiction took a different path.
He is described as a person who has a lot of heart and a lot of personality. Mike said his son, was an amazing kid. He was full of life, full of heart. Just really over the top with his personality.
One of the biggest components of that big personality was his sons ability to make people feel included even in their darkest days.
After his senior year of high school, the peace that his son found in his outdoor adventures, and conversations with people, began to erode away with his addiction to opioids, alcohol, meth, and heroin.
He said the event took the battle people had endured in the dark and created a public space for discussions and support.
What Are The Four Cs Of Addiction
As a concept, the four Cs of addiction was created to distill the disease of addiction to its most fundamental parts, which are compulsion, cravings, consequence, and control. They have since become a useful way to accurately describe or even identify addiction.
For example, you know that someone has an addiction when they:
- Have compulsive drug-seeking behavior
- Have drug cravings
- Continue using drugs in spite of the negative consequences
- Have lost control of their drug use and, as a result, are unable to cut back or stop using.
When all four Cs are present, a person is considered to have an addiction or a substance use disorder. Consequently, theyll need professional addiction treatment to recover.
Lets discuss each of the four Cs of addiction in more detail.
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Stage : Drug Addiction And Chemical Dependencies
Addiction and chemical dependencies is the final stage of drug addiction. Characteristics of this stages include continued use of drugs regardless of the negative consequences, severed impacts to physical and mental health, poor performance at work or job loss, or engaging in criminal activity. Personal relationship are jeopardised or completely lost as a result of drug use. If the addict progresses beyond stage four and enters recovery, it usually is a result of reaching a rock bottom- arrest or detention, near death experience, loss of loved one, etc. before they choose to seek addiction treatment.
During stage four, the addict has gotten to a point that they would have never previously imagined when they began with experimentation. If they are capable of identifying their problem, they are rarely willing or able to take actions towards correcting it. During Stage 4 peer and family support is important, but is also a serious emotional strain and sometimes even an impossibility.
Physical Consequences Of Addiction
Substance use is not only taxing for the brain, but it is also taxing for the rest of the body. Substance use weakens the immune system, which can make an individual more susceptible to disease. It also interferes with an individuals appetite and sleeping patterns, which often lead to malnourishment. There are also drug-specific consequences, such as smoking marijuana, which irritates the lungs and can contribute to chronic breathing problems.
Cliffside Malibu is an addiction treatment center that has treatment programs available for every level of care. Once you go through our detox program, we will help you establish your sobriety and recovery through a long-term treatment program. We are dedicated to providing a safe and comfortable atmosphere to foster your healing and recovery amidst our luxury treatment facilities. For more information about our programs, give us a call today at .
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The 4 Cs: Capacity Competency Consistency And Compensation
To best describe the needs of and solutions for the addiction treatment ecosystem, the authors of this manuscript propose the guidance of the 4 Cs: Capacity, Competency, Consistency, and Compensation.
Capacity refers to whether the system is correctly sized and nuanced enough to fill the needs of the community it is serving. The American Society of Addiction Medicine levels of care provide a useful framework to understand types of treatment called upon to treat SUD in a community . Competency refers to the education, training, and evaluation of those who work within the treatment system, including but not limited to physicians, psychotherapists, administrators, and peer recovery specialists. Consistency refers to whether the system is delivering high-quality care. The quality of a systems care is often assessed based on fidelity to best treatment practices and appropriate use of the systems infrastructure. Compensation refers to whether the treatment system financially aligns reimbursement with best practices. Payment can be viewed through the lens of the payment amount, payment type, including whether payment is being made for evidence-based practice versus legacy treatment practices, and inclusion of carved-out versus carved-in behavioral health. While one could rightfully argue that a fifth C could be added for Community, that consideration is outside of the scope of this publication. The sections below explore each of these 4 Cs in detail.
Competencies For Peer Support
- building caring and collaborative relationships
- how to share lived experience
- how to provide support
- how to communicate with empathy
Reaching the competency of care that patients with addiction desire and deserve is a necessary and urgent task. Special consideration should be given to patients who require chronic pain management in addition to SUD treatment, which will require systematic incorporation of additional competencies related to pain management .
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The Dos And Donts Of Dealing With An Addict
At this moment, there are 23 million Americans who struggle with addiction. This means there are also millions of friends and families that are suffering along with them, making substance addiction one of the countrys most pervasive diseases.
Surveys show that 64% of people had known someone close to them who had or is still currently suffering from addiction. Parents, teenagers, aunts or uncles, cousins or siblings, or close friendsits not rare to be close to someone suffering from addiction. Therefore, it is imperative to know and understand the guidelines when dealing with an addict. To help you in this predicament, here is a list of some dos and donts.
What Are The 4 Addictions
Let’s discuss each of the four Cs of addiction in more detail.
- Compulsion. Compulsion means someone has an irresistible urge or an uncontrollable desire to perform a specific action. …
- Cravings. Drug cravings mimic physical needs like hunger or thirst. …
- Consequences. …
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What Is Substance Use And Addiction
Many people use substances such as drugs or alcohol to relax, have fun, experiment, or cope with stressors, however, for some people the use of substances or engaging in certain behaviours can become problematic and may lead to dependence.
Addiction is a complex process where problematic patterns of substance use or behaviours can interfere with a persons life. Addiction can be broadly defined as a condition that leads to a compulsive engagement with a stimuli, despite negative consequences.i This can lead to physical and/or psychological dependence. Addictions can be either substance related or process-related, also known as behavioural addictions .ii Both can disrupt an individuals ability to maintain a healthy life, but there are numerous support and treatment options available.
A simple way of understanding and describing addiction is to use the 4Cs approach:
- Loss of control of amount or frequency of use
- Compulsion to use
- Continued substance use despite consequencesiii
How common is substance use and addiction?
Substance use is quite common on an international scale and statistics vary depending on the substance being consumed. It is estimated that nearly 5% of the worlds population have used an illicit substance, 240 million people around the world use alcohol problematically, and approximately 15 million people use injection drugs.iv
Addition Treatment Runs The Gamut From Traditional Andean Practices To Therapeutic Communities
There are 33 Therapeutic Communities in Lima alone, settings in which addicts can seek a sober lifestyle with the help of other recovering addicts. More addiction treatment centers employ traditional Andean treatment methods involving the use of Ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic plant substance that is supposed to invoke dreams and visions that help addicts discover their reasons for becoming addicted. Addicts come from as far away as Europe to take part in these traditional methods. In 2008, the head of the National Directorate National Institute of Culture of Peru acknowledged the drug as an important and protected component of the Peruvian traditional culture.
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Competencies For Counselors And Behavioral Health Support Staff
- prevalence and demography of addiction
- screening and brief assessment of SUDs and other addictions
- psychiatric screening and assessment tools
- motivational interviewing
- evidence-based behavioral treatments for SUDs and other addictions
- ACEs and their correlation with behavior
- effect of stigma and structural racism in treatment
- benefits of medications for addiction treatment
- social determinants of health and how they relate to addiction treatment
Priorities For Ensuring Accountability And Transparency In Addiction Treatment
The resources available to support addiction care will always be finite, but significant improvements can be made. The U.S. addiction care delivery system was not built upon the understanding of addiction as a chronic medical condition and can hardly be described as a system at all. It has largely been funded outside the medical system, and therefore lacks the quality requirements in place for other types of medicine. The time for transparency and accountability has come. Building capacity, competency, and consistency requires leadership in the compensation quarter. The following priorities, while not exhaustive, list fundamental areas to be addressed to move the U.S. into an effective and efficient system of care.
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The Second C: I Cant Cure It
Addiction is not just a physical problem. Addiction is a powerful physical and mental phenomenon. It is both biochemical and psycho-voluntary in the required coping mechanisms and lifestyle that the addict must construct so that they can maintain the means and methods for fulfilling their substance or alcohol addiction.
You have to acknowledge, to yourself, as a loved one or family member that, I Cant Cure It. That doesnt mean that you should give up or that addiction cant be cured. Still, it may mean that the issue has reached the point where proper professional rehabilitation is necessary. Once the addict creates a harmful lifestyle and coping mechanisms, it is tough to address the problem without an intentional intervention strategy and proper rehabilitation.
Proper rehab is typically necessary in order to recover from active addiction. Physical addiction demands a lifestyle that validates only the addictive substance and nothing else. As such, it requires a mental lifestyle that then accompanies that physical lifestyle for a full and successful recovery and treatment.
These Are The 3 C’s Of Addiction Recovery
It is never easy to watch someone you love struggle with an illness, but the three Câs of addiction recovery can help you support your loved one in their addiction recovery journey while also maintaining your own personal boundaries, says Katia S. Stoletniy, MD, addiction psychiatrist at Loma Linda University Behavioral Medicine Center.
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What Are The 4 Cs Of Addiction
When it comes to answering the question of what are the 4 cs, the answers help you understand the aspects of this disease called addiction. When you know more about the ways that addiction is affecting you and your loved ones, it can help you decide to seek help.
If this article was useful and full of information, we encourage that you check out some of the other articles we offer on our sire.
Stage : Risky Use/abuse
The transition between stages 2 and 3 might occur quite quickly and be difficult to detect in yourself or your loved on. It is during this stage that the drug user begins to prioritise drug use over other facets of their life and becomes unaware or unafraid of the consequences of their behaviour. The warning signs associated with Stage 3 addiction are: physical or psychological cravings and depression/irritability or fatigue if the drug can not be accessed.
Positive reinforcement experienced in stages 1 and 2 can propel a person into stage 3. On a biological level, repeated exposure to a substance causes some people to develop hyper sensitisation meaning that the individual will experience greater pleasure the next time they try the substance. Hypersensitisation leads to something incentive salience which means that the drug has now become a reward for the body and the body will start to want the drug at greater intensity and therefore repeatedly take the drug. The biological need for the drug combined with the psychological craving easily pave the way for addiction and full dependency to take over during Stage 4.
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Narconon Centers Help Addicts Find Sobriety
The Narconon program not only addresses the debilitating effects of drug abuse on the mind and body but also resolves why a person turned to drugs in the first place.
A thorough detoxification followed by counseling and life skills training enables a person in a drug program to see things in a whole new light so they can live an enjoyable, productive life again. This is the way the Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation program works.
As a result, a person can graduate from the program into a new life free from drug use.
Ignoring Known Consequences Of Continued Use
For the majority of us, our moral code tells us to stop doing something if we know it will have negative consequences however, for struggling addicts, knowing the consequences, and sometimes even suffering through them, is not enough to stop using. Some common consequences can include work issues, financial crisis, unnecessary and increased amount of conflicts, hospital visits, jail time and even death.
If you notice that you or your loved one are dealing with these four factors, contact us at The Farm to discuss how our addiction rehab program can help. Call us today at 1 353-2777 or send us a message here .
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Substance Use And Addiction Can Also Be Understood As Being On A Spectrum
People use substances for different reasons, and in varying degrees. For some people there may not be any harms related to their substance use, however, for some there may be negative impacts on their lives. Substance use and addiction can be understood as being on a spectrum, as seen in the model below.
Often the symptoms of problematic substance use and addiction can be episodic, and an individual can experience periods of increased substance use as well as periods of control. For example, casual or non-problematic substance consumption might escalate into problematic substance use if an individual is experiencing stressors in their life and using substances to cope. The substance use spectrum can be seen below:vii
A common misconception about addiction is that an individual will immediately get hooked if experimenting with an addictive substance. While many substances can be addictive, addiction isnt caused simply by the substances being consumed. For example, many people who use narcotics for post-operative pain relief do not become dependent on these substances. Addiction and substance use are often connected to a persons lived experience and their behavior patterns.
References
i European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. . Models of Addiction. Retrieved from:
What Are Four Types Of Addiction
The four C’s of addiction are a useful tool to distinguish between addiction as a mental health disorder that requires treatment and other types of addictive behaviors. The Four C’s are Compulsion, Cravings, Consequences and Control. In a moment I’m going to describe the four types of addiction, but first, it’s important to know that each of them, whether related to a substance, behavior or relationships, produces the same chemical reactions in the brain. So all addiction is really chemical addiction.
I’ll go into more detail on this in a future article. The APA uses them to diagnose substance addiction, but anyone who has experienced other types of addiction can easily recognize them in their own experiences. Obviously, it’s about addiction to alcohol and drugs. Some type of chemical substance is ingested in the body, which triggers the chemical reaction in the brain.
For example, some may agree that there are addictions to shopping, sex and exercise, but question the idea that people can become addicted to Facebook. The types of addiction range from everyday drugs such as alcohol and cocaine to behaviors such as gambling and theft. Some types of addiction are specified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , while others are more controversial and have been identified by some addiction professionals. Outpatient addiction treatment programs vary in the services they offer.
References
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