Addiction: Is it a Disease or a Choice?
Addiction: Is it a Disease or a Choice?
At some point in your life, you can find yourself addicted to one thing or another. You may ask yourself if addiction is a disease or a choice. Typically, you are responsible for every choice you make.
However, when you are addicted to substances, your brain chemistry is altered, and addiction is no longer a choice. You can get caught in a cycle of abuse that you cannot simply escape. And once the cycle is established, breaking free can be impossible without professional support.
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Is Substance Abuse a Disease or Choice?
In 2016, the U.S. Surgeon General established that addiction is a chronic illness. If you drink or take drugs for the first time, you may believe you can control your use. After that, you may seek the same level of pleasure or high as your first use, which may become unsustainable.
Over time, you may need more alcohol or drugs, and maintaining control will become problematic. Constantly seeking out alcohol or drugs can become a daily activity that causes serious consequences. Significant changes to brain chemistry drive you to spiral out of control.
When this happens, you may no longer be able to abstain from drugs or alcohol voluntarily. Even if it means losing everything you once valued, drug addiction consumes everything.
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What is Addiction?
Not everyone who uses alcohol or drugs will become addicted. Addiction is the process in which the brain and body become reliant on a substance. Everyone reacts in unique ways to drugs. Some will never become addicted to drugs, while others become instantly hooked, consumed with seeking the next high.
Effects of Drug Abuse
Prolonged substance use changes the brain in fundamental ways. Continued use reinforces the memory circuits associated with drug-taking. Chronic drug or alcohol use can create brain changes that persist years after a person quits. For this reason, individuals can relapse even after long periods of sobriety.
Relapses can often end in sudden death after years of sobriety, which is why effective treatment is so important. A strong support system after active treatment ends is vital to maintaining sobriety. Sustaining a drug-free life is a choice that you must make every single day.
Addiction is a Disease
Understanding the brain’s role in addiction can help reduce the stigma around it. Research shows that addiction can be managed successfully if treated properly. If you enter treatment, it can help manage your addiction, improve your quality of life, and help you remain drug-free.
Addiction is more than just a choice, and finding the proper intervention program is the next step to recovery. Whether it is entered voluntarily, because of family concerns, or legally required, we can find the right program for you.
Your Mental Health and Addiction
Compulsive behaviors that weaken the ability to control impulses are similar to the hallmarks of other mental illnesses. Drug addictions can start because of untreated anxiety and depression. The untreated disorder is what may drive you to continue seeking substances to mask underlying causes.
Is Substance Abuse a Disease or a Choice?
Many people tend to falsely assume those who abuse drugs lack moral principles or willpower. Many believe addiction is not a disease and is a choice. But is addiction a disease or a choice? The truth is that drug addiction is a complex disease with underlying medical conditions that contribute to continued use. Quitting substance abuse takes more than sheer willpower alone.
The stigma surrounding drug addiction is often met with ignorance. Many people don’t understand how someone can continue to use it despite the negative consequences of continued use. If you or a loved one is experiencing the cycle of addiction, you can do something to help. Intervention is often the very first step that family and friends can take to help the addict.
Drugs Are a Choice
Drugs are a choice, to a point. The first time you use it is a choice. It is often after the first use that you find yourself craving the drug. You may think you can control your usage. However, once you become addicted, the brain changes are the catalyst behind the disease of addiction.
Seeking out drugs becomes all-consuming. At this point, the choice to stop using, despite the grave risk to your health, can be impossible. Once the choice to use freely is removed, the vicious cycle of abuse continues.
You can hide your addiction for years, suffering behind closed doors until the point you can no longer sustain the false façade. Once this mask falls off, the devastation is unveiled. This is a vital period to seek support to help overcome your addiction.
Resources for Treatment
Finding the right treatment plan can be affordable. Many health insurance programs have policies that cover substance abuse treatment. Our staff will contact your insurance company to determine your coverage to get you into the right treatment program. Everyone deserves the chance to save themselves from the abusive cycle of drug addiction.
Reach Out for Help
If you are dealing with drug abuse, Resurgence Behavioral Health offers assessments and personalized treatment plans. Resurgence accepts various private insurance plans and offers insurance verification assistance.
Our staff can help you schedule an appointment and find the right treatment program for your specific needs.
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Finding Your Program
Most insurance companies have policies that clearly outline drug addiction treatment. Resurgence Behavioral Health programs offer instant online feedback regarding your insurance company. We are familiar with many different insurance policies that cover substance abuse.
We will even reach out on your behalf to ensure that you get the help you need. Everyone deserves the chance to get into treatment. All it takes is one phone call to start the process of recovery.
