People use drugs for many reasons: they want to feel good, stop feeling bad, or they are curious because others are dong it and they want to fit in, especially teens.

Drugs excite the parts of the brains that make you feel good. But after you take a drug for a while, the feel-good parts of your brain get used to it.  Then you need to take more of the drug to get the same good feeling.  Your brain and body must have the drug to just feel normal.  You no longer have the good feelings that you had when you first used the drug.  Drug use can start as a way to escape, but it can quickly make your life worse.  

Drug addiction is when you can’t stop taking the drug even if you want to.  The addiction can become more important than the need to eat or sleep.  The urge to get and use drugs can fill every moment of your life.  The addiction replaces all the things you once enjoyed.  Eventually, you may experience issues with family, friends or work.  Drug addiction is a chronic disease.  Addiction stays with you, even if you stop using.  Addiction affects your behavior, which can be treated with your acceptance and hard work.

As you continue to use drugs, self-control weakens your will to control usage.  This is a sign of addiction.  Brain studies of addicted individuals show physical changes in parts of the brain that are important to judgment, making decisions, learning and memory, and controlling behavior.  We know that when this happens to the brain, it changes how the brain works and it explains the harmful behaviors of addiction that are so hard to control.

Sometimes people quit their drug use for a while because they’re away from triggers that remind them about their drug use.  Once they return to normal life, people are likely to start using again unless they avoid their triggers.

A trigger is anything that makes you feel the urge to go back to using drugs.  It can be a place, person, thing, smell, feeling, picture, or memory that reminds you of taking a drug and getting high.  People fighting addiction need to stay away from the people and triggers that can make them start using drugs again.

People who get treatment (inpatient, out patient, private therapy) can stop using drugs. They can change their lives so they don’t go back to taking drugs.  However, they need to commit themselves to stop using drugs and follow the treatment program for a long time.  Typical support includes private therapy to help guide you through the pitfalls of recovery and the struggles encountered throughout the recovery process.  Recovery from addiction means you have to stop using drugs and learn new ways of thinking, feeling, and dealing with problems.  Therapy is an integral part in learning and practicing new, healthy behaviors, and coping mechanisms.  

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, or navigating through recovery, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me.  I have counseled thousands of addicts over the past 19 years and I continue to do so because I’ve seen that it is possible to overcome the struggle.   Learn more about what to expect with counseling.

914-434-9945 or [email protected]

E. Scott Swanezy, LCSW in Mamaroneck, NY