People with drug use disorders often discover that overcoming it is more difficult than they anticipated. They may believe that addiction is fiction and that they can stop whenever they choose, or that they are an outlier. Behavioral addictions including behaviors like eating, sex, gambling, shopping, and exercise may also cause this.
Anyone suffering from a drug use disorder (SUD), alcohol use disorder (AUD), or behavioral addiction should learn how to overcome it. Recognizing that there is a problem and understanding more about the process of quitting are critical initial steps in recovery, even if they are difficult.
This article explains what you’ll need to do to overcome an addiction and provides helpful advice. It also goes through the signs and symptoms of withdrawal, as well as some of the most successful treatment alternatives.
Why Is It So Difficult To Overcome Addiction?
Addiction is a “treatable, chronic medical condition involving intricate interactions among brain circuits, heredity, the environment, and an individual’s life experiences,” according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
Because addiction alters the brain’s reward system, which enhances the desire for the drugs or experiences, people continue to participate in dangerous activities despite negative consequences. These brain alterations also impact impulse control and judgment, making quitting all the more difficult.
Addiction is curable, even if it is difficult to recover from. You can overcome the physical and emotional hurdles you confront in order to recover with the help of helpful resources and the correct treatment method.
How to Get Rid of Addiction
Making any form of change, according to one model of behavior change known as the transtheoretical model, entails a process that begins with pre-contemplation and progresses through contemplation.
You may be in denial about the impacts of your addiction in the early stages of treatment. You may have emotions of ambivalence as you become more conscious of the issues you’re dealing with, even as you grow more aware of your need to conquer your addiction.
However, after you’ve made the choice to change, you may start planning your next steps.
Step 1: Recognize that you have a problem.
After a traumatic event, such as the loss of a relationship or a job, or an accident after a night out, many people acknowledge that they have a problem. Whatever situation brought a person to this point, it’s crucial to realize that, although reaching rock bottom is a terrible sensation, things can only get better from here. It’s both depressing and liberating to be in this circumstance.
Step 2: Researching Treatment Alternatives
Once a person has made the decision to change, it is time to begin searching for drug treatment choices, such as a drug rehab center. An addiction treatment center, either inpatient or outpatient, is an option for rehabilitation. Inpatient drug addiction rehab centers need patients to live at the treatment facility where they will be treated. This kind of treatment helps a person to concentrate only on their recovery, free of any distractions or stressors that may have led to their drug usage.