Addiction is one of the one of the curious behaviors that has faced society since when it was first recognized as a problem. Initially the term addiction was limited to substances that caused a chemical change on the body such as drugs or alcohol which made it very difficult for the user to stop taking or using them.
Today however, this the term addiction has been expanded to include other forms of addiction or compulsions like food addiction, shopping addiction, pleasure and other behaviors or actions that people engage in excessively while making little or no effort to bring them to an end.
Nowhere in the world is the problem of drug use and addiction to drugs more evident than in the United States that experiences an ever increasing number of people being added to the prison population largely to drug related crime and the loss of a large number of the productive work force unable to keep a steady job. This happens even as the government endeavors to educate the public on the dangers of drug use.
Examples of programs like methadone maintenance that were introduced to help people addicted to heroin off the drug have had some success with many addicts able to reduce or altogether stop abusing heroin. However, some addicts on the program have ended up being addicted to the methadone that was supposed to have helped them in the first place. A lot of the time this is due to the suffering caused by methadone withdrawal symptoms.
We may have encountered many occasions where we made a very determined resolve to stop doing something or even stop a negative habit in our lives only to experience success in our decision until something happens and we find our self going back on our decision.
Part of the reason is because an addiction is usually symptomatic of a problem that in turn leads to addiction and relying on willpower alone to quit without taking care of the problem is like treating the symptoms of a disease and not the actual disease itself. Also in the case of drugs or alcohol there is also the chemical effect of the drug which affects the brain and causes certain feelings to be experienced.
While there are people who by sheer will power alone have overcome their addictions they are but a handful and the rest will truly require more to beat their addictions for good.
Today however, this the term addiction has been expanded to include other forms of addiction or compulsions like food addiction, shopping addiction, pleasure and other behaviors or actions that people engage in excessively while making little or no effort to bring them to an end.
Nowhere in the world is the problem of drug use and addiction to drugs more evident than in the United States that experiences an ever increasing number of people being added to the prison population largely to drug related crime and the loss of a large number of the productive work force unable to keep a steady job. This happens even as the government endeavors to educate the public on the dangers of drug use.
Examples of programs like methadone maintenance that were introduced to help people addicted to heroin off the drug have had some success with many addicts able to reduce or altogether stop abusing heroin. However, some addicts on the program have ended up being addicted to the methadone that was supposed to have helped them in the first place. A lot of the time this is due to the suffering caused by methadone withdrawal symptoms.
We may have encountered many occasions where we made a very determined resolve to stop doing something or even stop a negative habit in our lives only to experience success in our decision until something happens and we find our self going back on our decision.
Part of the reason is because an addiction is usually symptomatic of a problem that in turn leads to addiction and relying on willpower alone to quit without taking care of the problem is like treating the symptoms of a disease and not the actual disease itself. Also in the case of drugs or alcohol there is also the chemical effect of the drug which affects the brain and causes certain feelings to be experienced.
While there are people who by sheer will power alone have overcome their addictions they are but a handful and the rest will truly require more to beat their addictions for good.
About the Author:
The writer Jay Moses is a former drug user who was on methadone treatment and describes his knowledge on how to get off methadone, visit his blog for more.. This article, Wining Over Addiction by Sheer Willpower has free reprint rights.
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