What You Need to Know about Substance Abused Drugs

Drug abuse occurs most among adolescent and young adults who are looking for new sensation and hope that these substances will increase their mental functioning and develop an ability to understand themselves better. According to a California rehab facility, many people take drugs incorrectly because they are very unhappy or discontented with their life.

Substance or drug abuse differs among cultural group, ethics, and socioeconomic, and is broadly defined as excessive self-administration of a drug that could result in addiction, physical dependence, and even harm to the individual’s health. A cancer patient who takes large doses of opiates to control pain, for example, is not considered to be a drug abuser. However, an otherwise healthy person self-administering large doses of opiates is.

Categorizing Abusive Drugs

Central Nervous System Depressants – These include alcohol, marijuana, narcotics (opiates), and Analgesic like pentazoacine (Talwin), sedation, hypnotics, antipsychotic and antianxiety drugs

Central Nervous System Stimulants – These include cocaine, amphetamines, and caffeine among others.

Mind-Altering or “Psychedelic” Drugs – These include lysergic acid, diethylamide, and mescaline.

Characteristic of drug addiction include compulsive drug use, drug craving, and drug seeking. Addiction is physical dependence.  A person who takes a drug for a while may not be able to stop taking it without experiencing dangerous physical effects that may even end in death.

Symptoms of Drug Withdrawal

Withdrawal is the physical side effects, such as nausea and consciousness, which results when the drug is discontinued. Not all drugs cause addiction. Many people find that they very much want to go on using a particular drug even though they are not physically dependent on it. They will not be ill if they do not get the drug. But if they can get it, they find it difficult or impossible not to take it. These people are psychologically dependent on drug.

Tolerance is another problem relating to drugs. Psychological dependence is an intense desire or craving for the drug when it is not available. 

Many people who take drugs and associate a great deal with others who take them become very careless about their personal appearance and physical health. They do not get enough sleep or proper food and they are likely to suffer from infectious illness.

The best way to treat a drug abuse victim is to bring him to a California rehab facility where the right programs, treatments, therapies, and approaches are done by professional counselors. Pax House is a residential California drug treatment center that helps drug abuse victims recover from their problems. For more information, visit http://www.paxhouse.org.

Understanding Narcotics Problem

Billions of dollars are spent every year for the purchase of narcotics. Almost every government in the world prohibits its use because of its effects and consequences are too much of a risk and drug abuse is almost ambivalent to committing suicide. With the government’s concern with the wellness of its people, they pursue the perpetrators of this hazard and try to free the world from the firm grip of narcotics.

What do narcotics do to the human body and psyche that makes the world so concerned with the spreading epidemic?  We will try to explore the different kinds of narcotics, its effects, and possible solution if a person is addicted to it using information from a reliable California rehabilitation center.

Major Types of Drugs

Drugs have two major categories – stimulants and sedatives.  Stimulants, as the name implies, stimulates the body wherein it prevents sleep and gives emotional excitement.  Sedatives relieve pain and usually produce sleep.  It also reduces emotional anxiety in a mentally upset person. Examples of stimulants are cocaine and benzedrine.  Examples of sedatives are morphine, codeine, and various barbiturates. These drugs are usually medically used and thus the acquisition of which without medical prescription is strictly prohibited. 

Causes of Drug Addiction

Some of the possible causes of drug addiction are as follows.

Accidental Addiction – This occurs when a patient had a disease which required them to take a certain prohibited drug to relieve pain. Accidental addicts become addicted to the drug which they previously taken and thus continued to buy and take it into their system even when it is not necessary. 

Neurotic Addicts -- These people are the ones who take in drugs deliberately and the main reason is that they want to escape their world and find another that may let them forget about their problems that makes them sad, insecure and scared.

Psychopathic Addiction – Compared to the previous 2 addictions, this is considered as the hopeless cases of addicts.  These are the people who have personality disorder who are antisocial and cannot distinguish right from wrong.

Drug Abuse Treatment

The treatment for drug addiction involves committing himself or his family to facility where withdrawal symptoms can be treated, such as California rehabilitation centers. To learn more how these facilities help drug abuse patients recover their mental and physical health, visit Pax House website at http://www.paxhouse.org/CA_Drug_Treatment.html.

The Importance of Support Groups in Treating Substance Abuse

The complexity of the treatment of drug abuse paved the way for support groups to be established. Over the years, support groups have proven their worth in making sure that the patients are able to cope up thoroughly with the treatment. By definition, support groups are organizations of people who share the same sentiments on a particular substance. They meet together to discuss to one another their addiction and share experiences of its cause and other issues. In California rehabilitation centers, support groups are recognized as core element in the treatment of substance abuse.

Benefits of Support Groups

Aside from having someone who can relate to one’s sentiments, support groups do more than that. The biggest benefit of it is that it helps the patient feel that he or she is not alone in the whole process. Being in a group will develop new skills in coping up and patients can relate to the actual stories of others. As a result, the group with the same problems can support each other to make sure that their problem is dealt with certainty.

A person who is not fond of sharing personal information to anonymous people usually is uncomfortable at the start of the program. However, the fact that more people share their own personal stories, the patient will voice out his or her feelings eventually. Everything that happens in the support group will be kept confidential.

Support groups are small organizations. They will provide intimacy in knowing that the patient’s story is well-heard and the moderator can better organize its members. Typically, a support group consists of 10 members. They meet on a regular basis to discuss their actual experiences in coping up. The group leader, or the moderator, will initiate the meeting and see who among the members need further support.

Every substance abuse victim is a candidate for support group. By having an emotional support, aside from trusted loved ones, the patient can easily cope up with the addiction and all the problems that go with it. That is why it is highly recommended by all California rehabilitation centers. To know more, visit http://www.paxhouse.org/CA_Drug_Treatment.html.