addiction recovery
I was sitting in class today, thinking today was about to be just another boring day in my UNIV class. I mean, honestly, who thought it was a good idea to offer a class that lasts for an hour and fifteen minutes where you don't do anything but eat pizza and look around warily at all the other freshman who act like they have this school thing in the bag?? Today, though, we had a guest speaker. Don't ask me his name...I don't remember. But his topic was very interesting. He was talking to us about addiction and how dangerous it is. I had no idea that a person can become addicted to so many different things! His information was so interesting and influential that I just have to share it.
It is important to understand some different types of addiction and what they consist of. One of the most well-known forms of addiction is alcohol addiction. What are some of the symptoms of alcohol addiction, and how can you tell if you or someone you know is addicted? First, it can be much easier to recognize that someone else has a problem than for you to recognize your own issue. People who have alcohol problems often try to rationalize their drinking habits, saying they can't have problems because "they only drink a lot on weekends" or "they can handle their liquor" or "they just drink to have fun". People don't realize these very behaviors qualify them as having alcohol dependence. Alcohol treatment is the only option.
Have you ever done something risky, like driving while drunk to go grab a bite to eat from McDonalds down the street? Of course, you thought it was innocent at the time because you weren't all that drunk and you could function perfectly fine, right? At this point, it is difficult to see whether it was worse that you actually drove under the influence or that you thought it was an acceptable thing to do.
Some other ways to tell somebody (or yourself) is dependent on alcohol is to watch how it affects the rest of your life. I know for a fact in college it can be very easy to get sucked into the irrational belief that everyone is drinking, and that it's the cool thing to do. But look around you. Are those very students you see partying on Thursday night also failing their classes? I know you've seen the poor students in their Friday morning classes, so hungover they could barely move their pen to take notes provided they could actually pay attention to what was going on in class. What about people who are beyond their college years? Jobs don't take kindly to people calling in sick on Saturday or Monday mornings, especially if it is a recurring thing. And what about the financial impact? Alcohol isn't free to drink (not all of the time, at least), and alcoholism can become a costly habit as tolerance builds and the amount of alcohol required to get the same buzz increases. Some people can't stomach cheap alcohol and so buy the more expensive (more potent) and smoother alcohols, which can become even pricier. Add the cost of juices and chasers and your tab runs up rather quickly. The money used to support an alcohol habit is often money that was supposed to be used to pay the rent or buy food or some other such important expenditure. This leaves the person in debt and unable to pay off these debts, which can even arise to the status of legal troubles (and let's not forget that driving under the influence is also illegal as well).
But let's not get it twisted. Alcohol is not the only thing a person can be addicted to. People can come back from addiction recovery. Obviously, some drugs, like cocaine and other "hard drugs" are addictive. People addicted to drugs like cocaine, or the street "crack", tend to begin to commit crimes to support their habit. Drug recovery is very difficult. They will steal, beat others up, or commit other extreme crimes just to get their fix. People addicted to drugs may also do stupid things while under the influence. Driving while high is just as dangerous as driving drunk; either way, your perception is flawed (and usually slowed). Certain drugs are hallucinogens and can produce the idea that images are being seen and sounds are being heard even though nothing is really there.