They say that recognizing a problem is a first step toward solving it. It’s very likely that you’ve realized you have a problem, if you’re reading this article. The truth is lots of people find themselves reluctant or incapable of recognizing the fact that their addictive behavior is ruining their lives and affects the lives of people surrounding them. Only those who have admitted their weakness get a viable chance to recovery.
We bet that at the start you didn’t expect your seemingly innocuous distraction will grow into something that dangerous. Most addicts tell themselves they are just having fun and can quit at any time. Those developing chemical addictions don’t realize how excruciatingly difficult it is to do away with their dark passion.
The good news is that quitting is possible, though this process may take up much more time and effort that you expected. To tell you the truth, recovering from an addiction may be a lifelong process.
There are a plethora of factors inhibiting quitting and subsequent physical and mental rehabilitation. Therefore, some people resort to specialized treatment whose main task is to guide addicts through this complex process, while others with enough strength of will and motivation manage to break a harmful habit on their own.
Grappling with your addiction may become a little bit easier if you understand what factors may make breaking your addiction challenging. You’ll understand that other addicts also go through the same “tortures” on the way to coveted freedom, which we sincerely hope will make you more patient or compassionate with yourself.
Tolerance and Withdrawal
If you’re striving to beat you addiction and repeatedly find yourself unable to quit, you must be already familiar with withdrawal and tolerance, which are interconnected symptoms commonly experienced by addicts. The odds are good that the people who haven’t developed tolerance and withdrawal will manage to give up a bad habit faster and more successfully than those who have.
Individuals resorting to an addictive substance can overdo it for a number of reasons. If the experienced effect is mild, they mistakenly assume that it’s harmless and it won’t lead to an unhealthy habit at any time. Moreover, if the initial effect is mild, those with addictive tendencies might think that there is no harm in amplifying the effects with a higher dosage.
The more perpetuated the addictive behavior gets, the less excitement you get from it, and the more stimulation our body requires. Needless to say, over time, the perceived effect becomes less intense and wears off faster. If you have too much sex, drink heavily, or take drugs, with the passage of time the detrimental activities stop giving you as much pleasure as you used to get. As a result, you find yourself eager to do more of the addictive behavior to get the same effect.
Full-fledged addicts tend to experience withdrawals in the absence of the desired stimulus. Drug addicts suffer from tremor, nausea, cramps, dizziness, fatigue, and slackness. Psychological problems may involve depression, listlessness, anxiety, and nervousness.
Alcohol and drug-related withdrawal symptoms can be eased quickly but usually require professional supervision. So, if you’ve resolved to fight your addiction, be sure to seek professional help and be ready for a long-term treatment. Once you get through withdrawal, you’ll enter a new, more complicated and emotionally strenuous, stage of combating addiction.
Common Hindrances to Quitting
At a certain stage, your addictive behavior becomes intolerable. You realize that it’s crucial to quit but still remain too weak-willed to resist the temptation to go on engaging in harmful practices. At this point, you start experiencing poignant conflicts, both internal and external ones. You aim to resist your urges, on the one hand, and try to withstand the social pressure, on the other. As a result, you need to deal with overwhelming stress linked to ambivalence, the mixed feeling of both striving to break the habit and eagerness to resume indulging in pleasurable still dangerous activities. Needless to say, such conflicts and related stress only reinforce your craving for forbidden substances.
There are a number of effective coping strategies. Physical exercises, meditation, spiritual practices, reading, or indulging your other, healthy passions can help you overcome depression and overall physiological disintegration, which is a commonplace in patients on their way to recovery. Learn more about how writing can enhance recovery at Edusson.com, which offers custom coursework writing service.
Guilt and Justification
Addicts commonly share the experience of pangs of conscience, and spiritual alienation from the rest of the world, which they sense is integrally linked to the recognition of their failure to comply with norms of morality. The sense of guilt can be a powerful motivator to change your life for the better. Still, in some cases, such emotional self-flagellation may interfere with breaking the habit and the recovery process as such. Others would make an attempt to rationalize their behavior. Common rationalizations sound like “I have a right to spend my money on what makes me feel good” or “My addiction doesn’t hurt anyone.” The problem is, the more you try to ignore or whitewash your addiction, the fewer tools there are to fight your addiction.
How Can I Quit?
As we have noted earlier, it’s up to you to overcome addiction. Therapy can help you cope with frustration and depression and assist you in breaking free from addiction. Quitting is not easy, or straightforward. Nonetheless, a good addiction program will help you undergo effective treatment when you’re ready. Make sure to take advantage of your friends or family’s support, which often proves crucial for successful recovery. And remember that out health, wellbeing, and happiness are in our hands.
Sponsored DISCLAIMER: This is a paid advertisement for California Behavioral Health, LLC, a CA licensed substance abuse treatment provider and not a service provided by The Fix. Calls to this number are answered by CBH, free and without obligation to the consumer. No one who answers the call receives a fee based upon the consumer’s choice to enter treatment. For additional info on other treatment providers and options visit www.samhsa.gov.
