Addiction can be explained as the inability to stop or prevent oneself from using a substance or involving in behaviour even if it causes psychological or physical harm. The term addiction is often mistaken for dependence on substances such as cocaine or heroin.
Few addictions could also involve the inability to stop engaging in activities such as eating, gambling or even working. Addiction can also be referred to as a chronic condition that could also result from taking medications. The misuse of opioids (pain-relieving drugs), especially illicitly made fentanyl, in fact, causes death.
Addictions can severely interfere with your daily life over time. People who experience addiction are also prone to cycles of relapse and remission, which means that they may cycle between the stages of intense to mild use.
Addictions are typically known to worsen over time, despite these cycles. They can lead to many serious consequences such as permanent health complications, bankruptcy etc. Most people, not all of them, begin using a drug or engage in an activity voluntarily.
Although, addiction can majorly take over and reduce self-control as time passes. Addictions also result from a vast series of interactions between a person’s biology and their social, physical and cultural environments. A person’s risk of addiction is influenced by their family history, psychological factors, traumatic events etc.
Often, most signs of addiction are related to a person’s impaired ability to have self-control over themself. Addiction brings about changes in a person’s behaviour which can be easily observed, such as:
1) Social changes:
- Addiction can impact the way a person socializes with others and relates with other people.
- Dropping hobbies and other activities: A person who uses or engages in addictive behaviour may give up certain activities that previously provided them delight. If no they aren’t able to use or engage in addictive behaviour during a particular social situation, it is very likely that they may decline to attend such an event, indulge in activities such as camping or spend a day on a boat with their friends or family.
- Increased secrecy: In a lot of cases, an individual who uses or engages in addictive behaviour tends to behave increasingly suspicious and keep it to themselves at all times.
- Denial: Many people who indulge in addictive behaviour are completely unaware that they have a problem. They may be aware of their physical reliance on addiction but they deny or refuse to recognise the necessity for therapy, believing that they may stop “at any moment”.
2) Health-related changes:
- Addiction can impact an individual’s functioning of the body and the systems.
Sleeplessness: Insomnia is a very common change that is witnessed in individuals with an addiction. Illicit stimulants, such as speed or ecstasy, can cause sleep disruption because users may stay up late for several nights in a row to use or engage in addictive behaviour. - Signs of withdrawal: When a person with an addiction is not able to use or engage in addictive behaviour, they might experience disorders such as cravings, constipation, diarrhoea, trembling, sweats, seizures, and uncharacteristic behaviour which could include violence.
- A change in the appetite: An individual’s appetite could be impacted due to their indulgence in addictive behaviour. For example, marijuana consumption could increase a person’s appetite greatly while cocaine reduces it.
- A change in an individual’s appearance: A person who uses or engages in addiction may begin to look tired, fatigued and haggard, as indulging in an addictive behaviour takes away crucial parts of their day, which gives them a reduced amount of time to tend to their personal hygiene.
3) Behavioral changes:
- A person with an addiction will not stop their behaviour even if they are fully aware of the problems addiction causes.
Poor or unrealistic assessment of the problems and issues associated with using or engaging in addictive behaviour. Such sort of behaviour could land an individual in legal as well as financial issues. - A person often blames other factors for the problems they are undergoing. This sort of behavioural change could potentially harm a person’s relations with their family and friends to an extent that it could isolate them from society.
- Addiction causes increased levels of anxiety, sadness and depression in people. These symptoms could further deteriorate in an individual with an addiction, such individuals could potentially self-harm when the situation worsens.
- A person could also feel increasingly sensitive and could display more severe reactions to stress when compared to others. This could be a result of the addiction which has impacted the way they process and acknowledge their feelings and emotions.
- Addiction could also cloud a person’s capability in identifying their own feelings.
- A person could also sense trouble in telling the difference between emotions, and the physical sensations of one’s emotions.
Addiction often plays out in stages. The reactions from a person’s brain and body are different at the early stages when compared to the later stages of addiction.
The four stages of addiction are considered to be:
- Experimentation: This is the primary stage of addiction where a person uses or engages in addictive activities out of curiosity.
- Social or regular use: The next stage of addiction where a person uses or engages in social situations or for social reasons. This could also include peer pressure. An individual might feel isolated when their peer group engages in a particular addiction while they do not. This leads them to try an addiction to feel included.
- Problem or risk: A person at this stage of addiction uses or engages in extreme ways with no regard to the consequences. At this stage of addiction, a person loses their assessment capability which encourages them to continue an addictive behaviour with zero regards towards the outcome.
- Dependency: The last stage of addiction is where a person uses or engages in addictive behaviour on an everyday basis, or even several times in a day, despite possible negative consequences.
If you are someone or know someone who is checking all the boxes of the mentioned signs of addiction then you should contact an addiction professional at the earliest to prevent it from growing further.
