Challenges Associated With Treating Addiction

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addiction medicine

In today’s society, addiction has become a severe problem. In the United States alone, over 1 million people suffer from addiction to drugs and alcohol and need help to get sober. However, only about one-third of those who need it receive any treatment for their addiction. With these statistics in mind, addiction is a huge issue that needs to be addressed.

While you can treat addictions with addiction treatment, they are challenging because you, the addict, do not feel you have a problem. Getting you into long-term treatment when you do not see a problem is one of the most significant challenges for Gilbert addiction medicine specialists.

Why is Treating Addiction a Challenge?

There are many different reasons why you might be unwilling to enter treatment as an addict. While the specific reason varies from one individual to another, there are two general problems that almost all addicts face: withdrawal symptoms and cravings.

Withdrawal

The first problem addicts encounter is usually intense physical withdrawal symptoms. These symptoms can be unpleasant enough that you will do just about anything to avoid them. While you can overcome these pressures with the help of a supportive family and friends, this is often extremely difficult in practice. The physical pain that you endure when you try to stop using your drug of choice is another reason why addiction treatment can be challenging.

Cravings

This brings us to the second problem every addict faces: cravings. Addicts crave their drug of choice because it is the only thing they know to counter their withdrawal symptoms. For example, if you are an alcoholic and go without drinking for too long, you will feel very sick and anxious. You might then experience cravings so strong that it feels like you must drink to relieve them. An alcoholic craving a drink might feel like they need it to get through the day, but this is an illusion. The only thing stopping the cravings from getting worse and worse is drinking more alcohol!

Denial

A serious hardship in addiction treatment is that you cannot receive treatment until you stop using your drug. You, as the addict, must recognize your problem before you can overcome it in most cases. Unfortunately, addicts often deny that they have a problem. This can be a powerful defense mechanism because if you do not see yourself as an addict, you will not believe that your addiction is a problem.

The negative cycle of addiction

Unfortunately, this ability to deny your problem often leads to an endless cycle of denial and relapse. The truth is that addiction should be treated by a professional, and many addicts know this but could not care less. This behavior often leads to an endless pattern of denial and relapse because you do not understand why your drug use causes problems in your life. Eventually, the negative consequences of addiction might lead you to get treatment, but this could take years.

To summarize, addiction is a big problem in the United States and the rest of the world. Several factors make treating addiction a considerable challenge, such as withdrawal, cravings, denial, and the negative cycle of addiction. To recover from addiction, you should first accept your situation and commit to finding help.

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