24 Apr The Seven Stages of addiction and How to Identify Them?
Addiction, we are very familiar with this term and it is not something that forms overnight.
Many professionals define addiction as a chronic medical disease that involves the compulsive use of substances or behaviors despite the negative consequences.
This issue can affect every aspect of an individual’s life from their physical to mental health to their relationships, work-life, and many more.
The road to becoming an addicted person is different for every human. Some individuals take a long time to become addicted while others take a short period to reach the top level of addiction.
No matter how long one’s journey is but one can take control back of their life with the help of the Deaddiction Centre in Patna.
They understand the different stages of addiction and how to avoid them from happening. In this blog, we will understand those 7 Stages of addiction and how to identify them.
So, let’s get started.
7 Stages Of Addiction You Should Know
The path to addiction for any individual begins with a choice. A choice where he/she chooses and takes voluntary action above the substance.
And because of the repeated choice to abuse substances, it develops into an addiction that takes over one’s ability to choose.
Below we have mentioned the 7 stages of addiction that will help you understand the pattern of this problem in detail.
Initiation
Many people don’t know What is the first stage of addiction? Well, the answer is the first step. It’s the first time when someone took the substance into their body.
Most people tell they are not going to be addicted because of just one use but they still do. They try to experiment with drugs and engage in risky behaviors out of curiosity, peer pressure, or boredom.
Teenagers and youth are the most common people that try new things out of curiosity. It is important to understand that one may not become an addict if he/she can prevent the progression to more dangerous stages.
Experimentation
In the first stage, most individuals have taken drugs either to peer pressure, boredom, curiosity, and drug availability. But in the second stage, they consciously choose to take it.
In this condition, there are no cravings for drug use and they have a choice to use it controlled manner or compulsively. It generally depends on the person’s thoughts, natural behavior, and environment.
The thing is even in this stage one can still quit the drug easily if they decide to do it.
Regular Use
Now, in the third stage after experimenting the user slowly develop a regular pattern to use the drug.
This regular use of patterns depends on the person’s emotional factors. However, they also develop a tolerance to the use of the drug and start to experience mild withdrawal symptoms when stop using.
Risky Use
At stage four the chances of getting addicted to drug increases. The effects of drug use become visible and start to show negative impacts like craving, irritability, fatigue, and symptoms of depression if not used.
Moreover, other people also start to notice many behavioral changes in the person. Avoiding responsibilities like work and family and losing interest in old hobbies are some of the behavioral changes one shows.
Dependence
The fourth stage of addiction is dependence. At this stage, individuals developed a physical and psychological dependence on drugs or addictive behavior.
They experience intense cravings for its use and other withdrawal negative symptoms when they try to stop using. They start to prioritize their drug usage or addictive behavior over all aspects of their life.
In either case, the individual understands that they need it and without it, they can’t function. Once they adapt to this mindset their addiction becomes certain.
Addiction
This is the worst stage when a person surrenders to the addiction and gives it all. In this stage, they lost control over drug use or ant addictive behavior.
They continue to choose to use it despite all the negative consequences they are facing because of this.
Here, they feel unable to quit even if they want it. This causes long-lasting brain damage and shows dangerous behavior if someone tries to stop them from using.
At this stage, there is no going back, and relapsing become close to impossible.
Final Crisis
This is the last and final stage of addiction. This is the breaking point when the user loses every valuable thing he/she had before this addiction. Work, friends- family, physical & mental health all of these things are part of his/her old life.
They have become a threat not only to themselves but also to the people who are around them. At this stage, the only way to out of this problem is to search for rehab.
They specialize in managing & handling addicts by creating customized treatment plans for their comeback.
After this, you guys have probably got your answers about How many stages of addiction are there. Now you must be wondering, how can you know that you have an addiction or not to any substance or behavior?
For this, let’s move forward to the next section of the 7 Stages of Addiction and How to Identify Them.
How to Find Your Addiction?
Well, finding your addiction can be a challenging task because of its gradual and subtle symptoms. But still, there are some things one can look out for that can help him to find his/her addiction to something.
Craving or urge for something or any behavior is a very first sign of an addiction. It’s possible that you may find yourself in a situation where you are obsessing over something.
Another sign is you can’t control yourself from the use of the substance. In fact, It’s possible you are using more than you need or intend to. Apart from this prioritizing the behavior or use of substances over other activities is also a clear sign of addiction.
So, by keeping track of these small changes in your behavior you can find your addiction.
With this, we have come to the conclusion part of the 7 Stages of Addiction and How to Identify Them.
Conclusion
In the above discussion, we have talked about 7 Stages of Addiction and How to Identify Them.
Addiction is indeed a very serious issue among people. It doesn’t matter what kind of addiction they have whether they’re addicted to drugs or any bad behavior.
Addictions make people dull and do a lot of long-lasting damage to their brains. In this condition, they are not only harming themselves but also the people who love them and can care for them.
The only way to get rid of this problem is by seeking professional help. So, if know anyone suffering from the same condition contact Rehabilitation Centre in Patna get proper treatment
No Comments