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| Drug Addiction News |
Nation's ER's Report: Abuse of Anti-Anxiety Drugs Up
 The number of drug-abuse related visits to hospital emergency rooms (ERs) involving benzodiazepine medications exceeded 100,000 in 2002, a 41 percent increase since 1995, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration's Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN). Nearly half of the emergency department (ED) visits involving benzodiazapines -- which include such psychotherapeutic sedatives as Valium, Xanax, Klonopin, and Ativan -- were connected with suicidal ideation, gestures or attempts.
> Read the Nation's ER's Report
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For
Many, Stress Leads to the Use and Abuse of Drugs, Alcohol and Tobacco...
 Some of the Basic Facts
Stressful events can have a direct affect on the use of alcohol
or other drugs. Stress is a major contributor to the initiation and
continuation of drug addiction and alcohol abuse, as well as to relapse
or a return to drug use after periods of abstinence.
Stress is one of the major factors known to cause relapse to smoking, even
after prolonged periods of abstinence.
Children exposed to severe stress may be more vulnerable to drug use. A number
of clinical and epidemiological studies show a strong association between psychosocial
stressors early in life (e.g., parental loss, child abuse) and an increased
risk for depression, anxiety, impulsive behavior, and substance abuse in adulthood.
> More on Stress Related Usage
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Drug Addiction |
The Hard Truths About Drug Addiction |
Those who
struggle with drug addiction don't set out to destroy themselves and
everyone and everything in their path--rather, these disastrous consequences
are the effect of the vicious cycle of addiction. For many, drugs
seem to be a means of averting emotional and/or physical pain by providing
the user with a temporary and illusionary escape from or way to cope
with life's realities. In fact, more problems--often life-shattering
ones--are created by using drugs. Over time, a person's ability to
choose not to take drugs can become compromised. Soon enough, the
person rationalizes the need to use consistently and will do anything
to get high...
Drug addiction is complex. It's characterized by compulsive--at times uncontrollable--drug
craving, seeking, and use that persists even in the face of extremely negative
consequences. For many people, drug addiction becomes chronic, with relapses
possible even after long periods of abstinence.
Essentially, drugs are a pain killer. They may seem to avert emotional and physical
pain by providing the user with a temporary and illusionary escape from or way
to cope with life's realities. In fact, more problems--serious ones--are created
by using and abusing drugs.
Over time, a person's ability to choose not to take drugs can become compromised--soon
enough the person rationalizes the need to use consistently and will do anything
to get high. They are now caught in the vicious cycle of using to alleviate pain
and creating more pain by using...They now display the physiological symptoms
of addiction. They become difficult to communicate with, are withdrawn, and begin
to exhibit other strange behaviorisms associated with addiction.
The compulsion to use drugs can take over the individual's life. Addiction often
involves not only compulsive drug taking but also a wide range of dysfunctional
behaviors that can interfere with normal functioning in the family, the workplace,
and the broader community. Addiction also can place people at increased risk
for a wide variety of other illnesses. These illnesses can be brought on by behaviors,
such as poor living and health habits, that often accompany life as an addict,
or because of toxic effects of the drugs themselves.
Because addiction has so many dimensions and disrupts so many aspects of an individual's
life, treatment for this illness is never simple. Drug treatment must help the
individual stop using drugs and maintain a drug-free lifestyle, while achieving
productive functioning in the family, at work, and in society. Effective drug
abuse and addiction treatment programs typically incorporate many components,
each directed to a particular aspect of the illness and its consequences.
Three decades of scientific research and clinical practice have yielded a variety
of effective approaches to drug addiction treatment. Extensive data document
that drug addiction treatment is as effective as are treatments for most other
similarly chronic medical conditions. In spite of scientific evidence that establishes
the effectiveness of drug abuse treatment, many people believe that treatment
is ineffective. In part, this is because of unrealistic expectations. Many people
equate addiction with simply using drugs and therefore expect that addiction
should be cured quickly, and if it is not, treatment is a failure. In reality,
because addiction is a chronic disorder, the ultimate goal of long-term abstinence
often requires sustained and repeated treatment. |
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Millions of Americans in Denial About Their Own Drug Abuse |
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Results of the 2001 National
Household Survey on Drug Abuse reveal that, while millions
of Americans habitually smoke pot, drink alcohol, snort
cocaine and swallow prescription drugs, too many drug
users who meet the criteria for needing treatment do
not recognize that they have a problem. The figure
of those "in denial" is estimated at more than 4.6
million--a significantly higher number of individuals
in need of professional help than had been previously
thought.
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