Assistence in case of addiction Form: XIth A

What is an addiction? Addiction has long been understood to mean an uncontrollable habit of using alcohol or other drugsalcohol drugs More recently, we have come to realize that people can also develop addictions to behaviors, such as gambling, and even quite ordinary and necessary activities such as exercise and eatinggamblingexerciseeating What these activities have in common is that the person doing them finds them pleasurable in some way

What makes it an addiction? Firstly, the addictive behavior is maladaptive or counter-productive to the individual → So instead of helping the person adapt to situations or overcome problems, it tends to undermine these abilitiesmaladaptive Secondly, the behavior is persistent → when someone is addicted, they will continue to engage in the addictive behavior, despite it causing them trouble

But If You Still Enjoy It, It Can’t Be an Addiction, Right? Wrong!!!! Because the media, in particular, have portrayed addicts as hopeless, unhappy people whose lives are falling apart, many people with addictions do not believe they are addicted as long as they are enjoying themselves, and they are holding their lives together.

What can you be addicted to? food drugs alcohol video games shopping gambling certain behaviours work TV/ Internet exercise smoking

Types of addiction Physical Addiction: a person's body actually becomes dependent on a particular substance + building tolerance to that substance → the person needs a stronger dose with time Psychological Addiction: feel overcome by the desire to have a drug

Signs of Addiction Extreme mood changes – happy, sad, excited, anxious, etc Sleeping a lot more or less than usual, or at different times of day or night Changes in energy – unexpectedly and extremely tired or energetic Weight loss or weight gain Unexpected and persistent coughs or sniffles Seeming unwell at certain times, and better at other times

Signs of Addiction Pupils of the eyes seeming smaller or larger than usual Secretiveness Lying Stealing Financially unpredictable, perhaps having large amounts of cash at times but no money at all at other times

Signs of Addiction Changes in social groups, new and unusual friends, odd cell-phone conversations Repeated unexplained outings, often with a sense of urgency Drug paraphernalia such as unusual pipes, cigarette papers, small weighing scales, etc “Stashes” of drugs, often in small plastic, paper or foil packages“Stashes” of drugs

Addiction treatment Approaches to addiction treatment depend on the needs of the individual, and may include: Detoxification to medically manage withdrawal from alcohol or drugsDetoxification Individual therapy to help the person reach a greater understanding of their addiction and how to overcome it Group therapy to allow people with the same addiction problem to share understanding, support and encourage each other Residential treatment to give people the chance to get away from their usual lifestyle into a safe supportive atmosphere with intensive therapyResidential treatment Many people successfully overcome addictions without professional help through “natural recovery”.

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