Fighting Against Substance Abuse

By Ryan Sledgehammer

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Substance abuse is a growing menace in the society. Anyone can be a victim of it, disregarding age, gender and ethnicity.

image: man in agony from drug abuse Substance abuse can be broadly defined as the situation in which the use of a substance causes a detrimental effect on the physical and mental condition of an individual.

Further, substance abuse can also have devastating effect on the financial, social and even legal standing in the society of a person.

The 'substance' in substance abuse can be almost anything. It can be either legal or illegal.

Even the non prescribed use of prescriptive medicines has and can be termed as substance abuse.

In cases of substance abuse, injections, inhaling and oral usage of the substance is common. However, sniffing and smoking of the said substance is also seen in some cases.

Maybe the most common way of substance abuse is the non prescribed use of prescribed medicines. Simply put, an overdose of sleeping pills prescribed by a doctor is substance abuse.

Alternately, taking any substance into the body in any other way than as prescribed by the doctor is substance abuse.

image: female teen needing drug and alcohol treatment

Other than prescribed medicines, alcohol, drugs and other intoxicating substances have been abused commonly. Drug dependency, drug addiction, and drug addiction are examples and also results of substance abuse.

Each year, about four million people in the United States seek some kind of treatment for a problem related to the use of alcohol and drugs, but that leaves around 20 million people who need substance abuse treatment but do not receive it.

image: teenage girl in frenzy from drug abuse Some of the most common substances people are dependent on are alcohol and nicotine. Alcoholics Anonymous is perhaps the most famous alcohol de-addiction support group. Alcoholics Anonymous is an informal de-addiction center for smokers who wish to quit smoking.

The groups are locally found and their numbers may vary depending on the area and the regions. Alcoholics Anonymous has a program that it popularly calls as the 'twelve step' program, which has been known to be very effective and actually instrumental in helping alcoholics combat their alcoholism.

The reasons behind substance abuse are many. Some people may take to substance abuse simply because of peer pressure, while others may take to substance abuse to combat stress.

There have been some cases where individuals have taken a liking to a taste of a certain medicine, and continued using them even they were no longer needed to be used.

Of the 20 or so million people in 2006 who needed specialized alcohol or drug abuse treatment and did not receive it, only 940,000 reported that they felt they needed treatment. In other words, the vast majority of people each year who need treatment do not believe they do.

The results of the consequent substance abuse are too serious to be neglected. Substance abuse seriously hampers the social life of a person. Substance abuse also comes between the family and work obligations of a person. Depending on the depth and type of substance abuse, it can also hamper the financial standing of an individual.

Substance abuse rehabilitation is therefore important for a person who is dependent on any controlled substance. It can eliminate the addiction of the person and lead him or her to a more enriched life.

According to substance abuse statistics, all illegal drugs combined kill fewer than 20,000 Americans per year. This is a small percentage of the Approximately 135,000 people who are killed every year by alcohol and tobacco. The negative outcomes related to alcohol and drugs abuse costs American society around $46 billion dollars each year.

Ryan Sledgehammer owns and operates http://www.substanceabusehelpnetwork.com and Alcoholic Treatment Program He is also a recovering substance abuse user and lost a brother to suicide from serotonin degradation caused by crystal meth abuse.

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According to data gleaned from the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), approximately 23.6 million people over age 12 in the U.S. met the criteria for substance abuse or dependence in the past year, based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV).

image: male teen in need of alcohol and drug rehab

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In many instances characterized by dysfunctional living conditions, the result is that the codependent person or persons develop habitual self-defeating ways of coping in order to survive. If this vicious cycle is not broken, the codependents eventually become out-of-touch with their own emotions.

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