It is difficult to understand why some people are addicted to drugs and why others are not. It isn't about trying to hide or not being able to face the world. It's all related to the mental health of a person. The external situations that you face in your life have an extreme affect on your mental health. This is what mostly leads to drug related addiction.
It's a common belief of people who have never actually used or understood drugs that people who use drugs don't have a moralistic view of the world. This is absolutely wrong and most of the time the people who become drug addicts are nice and moralistic people.
A lot of parents try to curb the habit of drug abuse by simply asking their children to stop and they are left flustered when this doesn't work. Well, it's not because someone lacks willpower that they are not able to leave drugs, it's related to the situation in their brain.
What is Drug Addiction?
Drug addiction is excessive and chronic use of recreational medicines and other synthetic substances that leads to compulsive addictive behavior. Even though the initial usage of drugs is absolutely voluntary and most people are compelled to use them in order to feel better, later on this addiction can be really harmful as it changes your brain to crave more drugs.
It can be harmful for the people around you and it's also harmful for your health. The brain changes in such a way that it further induces a person to use drugs. The main aim of drugs is to reduce a person's self control so that he continues to use the drug even if he does not wish to do so.
This is why proper treatment is important. Just forcing someone to stop using drugs never works. It rather induces a person to crave drugs even more. Often it is seen that people can do anything to get drugs. This further proves the power that drugs have over people and the way that they change people's minds.
Addiction treatment ensures that a person who is going through drug addiction has the requisite resources to counter the effects of the drugs. Most rehabs ensure that people are able to get the medicines that they need to counter the effects of drugs while at the same time using various kinds of therapy to change a person's outlook towards drugs.
The main aim is to ensure that the person never gets addicted to drugs again. This is a very difficult process which requires a lot of time but with the right amount of support and guidance it's not impossible.
Treatments are different for everyone. The treatment has to be tailor-made depending on the kind of drugs that the patient used and the amount of time they used drugs for. The main point of therapy is to ensure social inclusion. Rehabs are friendly environments that ensure that the worst is put behind people and that they are able to start a new chapter of their life.
Relapse is very common among drug users. Rehabs can only do so much to counter the balance of drugs but delicate subjects like mental health and family problems can force people to continue using drugs. This can make treatment very difficult. Relapse does not necessarily mean that someone is lost beyond all hope but rather it means that perhaps the treatment needs to be altered to suit the patient.
New kind of rehabs are trying to ensure that addicts are able to leave their past behind and are able to live a stress free life. After-rehab care is something that is very important and is carried out by major rehab centers around the globe.
Why is it Difficult to Leave Drugs?
There is no simple answer to this question. In reality, leaving drugs is very difficult. It's not about waking up one day deciding that you never want to use drugs again. That is not how it works. It can be really difficult for someone with addiction issues to even think about leaving drugs. They need a lot of support and guidance in order to even think about leaving drugs. The road after that is even more difficult.
Drug addiction is really complex and just trying to stay on the right path doesn't work. You might have an extremely strong will power but once you get addicted to drugs, the craving is hard to let go off.
The reason behind this is that drugs change you whole cellular system in an extremely complex way. Drugs change your brain in such a way that it further promotes using drugs. So, basically popping that one pill will further have a compulsive reaction that will make you crave more pills. This is why just deciding to leave drugs doesn't really work.
To understand further, you can take the example of food. If you eat something really delicious you crave it more. This is because your brain induces you to consume things that make you feel better. In the context of drugs, multiply this reaction by a thousand. That's how strongly your brain craves drugs once you start using them. Now, you can see why simply increasing your will power or moral strength doesn't actually work.
What Exactly Happens to Your Brain?
All kinds of drugs contain chemicals that disrupt the way that your brain works. They do this by tapping into the nervous system of your brain. They are able to duplicate the cells that carry messages from the brain. These cells produce abnormal messages that further promote the use of drugs by the body.
Other cells force the brain to induce certain chemicals such as Dopamine, which result in euphoria. This is something that promotes people who are going through stress or are depressed to further use these drugs to feel the same euphoria that they felt earlier. These drugs harm the body and make it impossible for people to think clearly. While people are swimming in euphoria their brain is not able to function properly.