Do you have an addiction?

When talking about drugs, this is referring to non-prescribed and prescribed medications. There are a number of aspects to why you’re taking drugs:

Designed for pleasure

Your mind has a section, which is designed for pleasure; in terms of society, we’re always looking for things, which can make us feel good. There are healthier ways of making you feel good about yourself but if you’re taking drugs you’ve found one of the unhealthy ways to achieve this ‘good’ feeling by getting high.

Drugs have an instant impact on your brain’s pleasure centre. The drugs fill your head with dopamine and create ‘cravings’ for the next high. Dopamine is naturally produced by your body however when you start to use drugs, this reduces the amount of dopamine your body creates, resulting in you needing to take more drugs to feel pleasure. As time progresses you’ll find that the amount of pleasure you receive from taking drugs reduces but the cravings it creates is still there which is why so many addicts will increase their intake.

Feeling like you can’t cope with dealing with pain

At the time when something or someone hurts you and your feeling pain, it’s easy to ignore the pain and look for something, which would make you feel better instead. Avoiding pain or negative feelings can be the main cause for you to start taking drugs, the high you experience allows you to escape reality, this escapism is the reason you may be taking drugs. You’ve found a way to not have to deal with life/pain however as it only lasts for a small amount of time, you find yourself having to take more and more to continue to stay outside of your reality.

You may also be abusing drugs and not be a full addict, the reasons for using drugs is still the same however you’ll find that you use it as and when you need it opposed to taking drugs because you’re now addicted. You may find that when you’re stressed out, overthinking, feeling overwhelmed and overworked you need drugs to help you ‘relax’. This relaxation in itself is a coping strategy, which allows you to cope with your day-to-day life, however as drugs have a negative lasting effect on your system; the negatives outweigh the positive.

Using drugs is about behaviour

Any form of addiction has a strong behavioural aspect driving it. If you’re more inclined to become addicted, you’ll experience the high in a different way to someone who doesn’t have behavioural aspect driving his or her urge. This means that if you find that you’re compulsively engaging in activities or behaviours that have a negative impact on you whether this is mentally, physically or emotionally, you have a behavioural addiction. If you have a behavioural addiction you’ll gain pleasure when your behaving in a certain way i.e. getting high however you’ll experience negative feelings later, which may include guilt, sadness, regret etc. Without intervention by a professional and treatment, you’ll find it very difficult to stop engaging in negative behaviours.

If you’re looking for ways to stop engaging in negative behaviours with drugs, attending Counselling & Psychotherapy and or staying at a treatment centre is very beneficial and can help you with healthy coping strategies, as well as dealing with the underlying issues you face.