Experts define addiction as a disease that makes you lose the ability to control the urge to use a substance or behave in a certain damaging way. Regardless of the kind of addiction you have, it poses serious dangers to you in several ways.
Addiction affects you physically, psychologically, and physiologically. Read on as we explore the dangers of addiction in this article.
Physical Dangers of Addiction
Drug abuse impairs your coordination and balance. This can make you fall and injure yourself. If you drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol, you may cause an accident that causes injuries or death.
Some addictions trigger violent behavior that can cause you to get into frequent confrontations. This is risky as you can be injured or hurt other people as you fight.
In addition, using some substances injures you. For instance, frequent injection with syringes damages your skin and muscles, while snorting cocaine damages your nasal cartilage.
Opiates lead to severe constipation that may be fatal if not treated. Dental decay or meth mouth is common in addicts who abuse tobacco-based substances.
Some addicts prioritize acquiring their drugs over their well-being. They may use all their money on drugs at the expense of their basic needs like housing and food. When this happens, it leaves them homeless and exposed to the elements, endangering their security.
Addicted expectant mothers endanger their unborn children. The drugs may result in congenital anomalies or death to the fetus. Other dangers of addiction diagnoses include health complications like heart and lung failure, hypertension, HIV and Aids, and sexually transmitted diseases.
You are also at risk of developing psychosis as your addiction worsens. To avoid these extremes, seek addiction treatment in reputable rehab programs like Covenant Hills Christian Rehab in Orange County.
Psychological Dangers of Addiction
Excessive use of drugs and alcohol rewires your brain, causes inflammations, and disorganizes your nervous system, leading to mental illnesses. Though not every addict experiences these effects, here are some of the psychological danger of addiction:
Anxiety
Some drugs may have a relaxing effect on you. However, as they wear out, they leave you feeling more anxious. This could be because drugs cause your body to rely on external sources and impair the production of chemicals that help you fight anxiety.
Anxiety also intensifies when you try to hide your damaging behavior from other people. You may have begun using drugs and alcohol for leisure but soon realized you are losing the ability to stop using them. This triggers anxiety as you wonder how other people will react when they find out about your damaging behavior.
Depression
Addiction triggers depression that manifests in loss of interest in things that you were passionate about. You may experience hopelessness, dysregulated emotions, irritability, sleep disturbances, and suicidal ideation. Your depression worsens when you feel overpowered by your damaging addiction that you may struggle to stop unsuccessfully.
Negative Feedback Loop
People may not understand how the feelings of guilt and hopelessness overwhelm you as you struggle to get out of your addiction. They may judge you for making bad choices repeatedly. They may not know how you are trying unsuccessfully to stop your damaging habits, including seeking intervention for the addiction.
This leaves you hopeless, causing you to seek solace in the drugs as they give you short-lived relief. As this cycle continues, your brain becomes accustomed to the negative feedback loop, and you may abandon the fight to come out of the addiction. Seeking professional help from an addiction treatment center can help you regain your motivation to fight your damaging behavior.
Shame and Guilt
When struggling with an addiction, you tend to evaluate yourself negatively. This is compounded by the stigma associated with addiction. The shame and guilt of letting yourself and your family down overwhelm and you may isolate yourself, as you feel no one understands your struggle or cares for you anymore. In extreme cases, this may make you suicidal.
Loss of Interest
You may lose interest in the things you formerly enjoyed if you don’t want the people you hang out with to know about your damaging behavior. You may also lose interest if you feel they are judging you unfairly after finding out about your addiction. Unfortunately, isolating yourself and abandoning your passion dampens your moods and pushes you further into your damaging habits.
Social Dangers of Addiction
Damage to Relationships
Addiction puts a strain on your relationships with your family and friends. It is one of the reasons for broken marriages.
People may feel that you betrayed them or avoid you to protect themselves from your confrontational tendencies. Close friends may fear you inducting them into the vice and opt to abandon your friendship.
Your relationships at work may also suffer, causing you to lose your job. When you are isolated from the people that were once caring and friendly, you seek comfort in the company of other addicts. This may lengthen your recovery time from the damaging addiction.
Loss of Employment
You may lose your employment if you become unproductive and exhibit unpredictable behavior at work. Your employer may also lay you off to avoid paying increased health insurance, as your addiction causes health complications like hypertension, heart and lungs problems, and injuries from, fights, falls, and accidents.
If you began abusing drugs while still in school, you find it hard to secure employment, as people tend to dismiss addicts as unproductive and unreliable. This keeps you financially unstable and may push you to crime to sustain your addiction.
Crime
Addiction and crime are closely related. Your supplier may be involved in other crimes besides doing drugs. They may recruit you into those criminal activities, especially when your need for money to buy your drugs increases. This may send you to jail leading to wasted years behind bars and separating you from your loved ones as you waste years behind bars.
Overcome Your Addiction
Checking into rehab may help you overcome your addiction fast. At Covenant Hills Addiction Treatment Center, we provide religious and non-religious addiction treatment to people who need rehab in Orange County.
With more than 25 years of experience in helping people breaks the chains of addiction, we understand what you need to overcome your addiction. Call us today to discuss your gender-based addiction treatment needs.
