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It is a common misconception that those who suffer from a drug addiction have “no willpower” and are”bad people”. In reality, a drug addiction is a complex and devastating illness that acts almost as a puppet master would when controlling a puppet, but instead, the addict is being controlled by the addiction. Beating an addiction can be a strenuous and monotonous process that can leave the individual feeling drained and sometimes feeling as though they will never succeed. Indeed, many people all over the world succumb to a drug addiction, and the majority of them will need treatment and medical support to give them that encouraging nudge in the right direction.
Defining a Drug Addict
When asked to think of a drug addict, many automatically conjure up a mental image depicting a homeless man, taking drugs in an alleyway, and drinking from a bottle wrapped in a brown paper bag. But why is this? The primary reason for this stereotypical and misconstrued image of a drug addict is down to how the media typically portrays drug addicts. Many people will have also grown up being told that drugs are for bad people while seeing countless celebrities being verbally abused and slated because they have fallen into the firm grip of addiction. The reality of the situation is that this “terrible” drug addict could be your best friend. It could be your father, your neighbour, that woman who works in the local corner shop. No one is exempt from developing an addiction. It can happen to people of all ages, genders and religions. A drug addiction does not care whether you are wealthy, financially stable, or even if you don’t have a penny to your name. This truly destructive illness can take over the life of anyone who allows it to.
How a Drug Addiction Can Take Over When You Least Expect It
One person who knows just how devastating a drug addiction can be is Jo Scott. Jo was just your typical wife and mother, leading a fairly “normal” life until the tragic death of her husband, who was killed in a car crash.
She recalls feeling numb as she was left to care for her three young children on her own. She found herself drowning her sorrows in endless amounts of alcohol, which soon turned into drug abuse. Jo began abusing “ice”, which is another term for crystal meth. She said that the area in which she lived made it easy for her to source this drug, which made it all too simple for her to fall victim to addiction. Her addiction fuelled severe depression, which got to the point where she made an attempt to end her life.
Since the drug was so readily available in Victoria, where she lived, she knew that she had to leave or face the very real possibility of never being able to recover from this serious addiction. Once she arrived at her new home in Townsville, she knew that she needed something to keep her mind off her intense cravings. Jo joined a gym, and within weeks she was hooked. She ditched her drug addiction for a “gym addiction”, and she has never felt better.
Why Is It That Only Some People Fall Victim to Addiction?
There are a few risk factors that can influence an individual’s chances of becoming addicted to drugs (or anything else, for that matter). However, this does not mean that just because one may fall under one of these categories, he or she will definitely develop an addiction. The more risk factors that a person has, the larger chance that taking drugs will lead to addiction. These factors can include:
- environment
- development
- biology.
These can increase the risk of an individual falling victim to addiction. However, there are many cases where an addict will not have any of these risk factors and will develop an addiction anyway. If you think that you may have an issue with addiction, feel free to contact us here at Blue Skies Recovery, and we can offer you some advice and information on possible treatment options.
Source: From drug addict to gym junkie: How one woman beat her raging meth addiction by working out every time she felt like getting high (Daily Mail)
