4-2 Short Paper Misconceptions About Addictions PDF

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4-2 Short Paper: Misconceptions About Addictions Jesse DuPray Southern New Hampshire University

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ADDICTIONS

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4-2 Short Paper: Misconceptions About Addictions

Addiction is something that happens to all different types of people. There are different types of addictions from alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, sex, food, and money addictions. Do people talk about them? Not as much as they should. Some people that are into harder drugs like heroin or crack some friends and family might have an intervention. But when it comes to alcohol cigarettes or marijuana people just talk behind their back and say oh, they are addicted.

The biggest myth about any addiction is they can stop if they want to. That is not true addiction's dark side is dependence. Any addiction becomes a form of dependence. With things like drugs and alcohol, you become dependent on how they make you feel, how they can alter the life you live in if it is not one you want. You can not just walk away. Once addicted to drugs and alcohol you will go through physical withdrawal. The first 48 hours are the worst. The drugs are all the brain can think of you get chills, headaches, and sometimes depending on what you are withdrawing from hallucinations.

Another reason people do not talk about addictions with someone that is addicted is that they are afraid, they will drive them away. If they do not talk about it, they will stay in their life and they will be able to monitor their addiction. That is completely wrong. If you notice an addiction being displayed by someone you love or care about you should talk to them about it then. By then they have become more addicted than you know. If it is drugs, then they have been doing them behind your back for longer than you think they have. People tend to hide their addictions from people out of shame. The other reason to talk as soon as you notice the addiction is the earlier you talk with them the sooner you will get them into recovery. People in the early

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stages of addiction are more likely to want to be recovered than someone that has been addicted for years.

Someone who is addicted to alcohol I do not believe can just do it themselves. Alcohol or any addiction is also a lifestyle. For example, I have a friend that I go out with once and a while. But I know he has a drinking problem. He can not go one day without having at least 3 beers. Not just one. But has to have at least 3. That is a problem. I have talked with him, but his response is what do you expect me to do just change everything in my life. All his friends drink. Yes, will power make him say no. But everywhere he goes revolves around alcohol. He got a second job after his partner left him and his second job as a bartender. So, everyone knows him as a bartender and a fun person. So, in a way, I believe that some willpower can save him and get him to want to curve his addiction but at the same time, I believe when you are into the lifestyle of something like alcohol it is a lot harder. You have to choose to leave some friends in the past and even some family. Or decide that you can not go to certain places, and being in his situation when it started you wanted to go out and be around people to help him forget about the good memories of his partner. So, in most cases I do not believe willpower is the answer may be an ingredient to the solution but without a support team as well you will not succeed in getting someone to stop drinking.

Marijuana, Marijuana since it has become legal in my state, I have found out more people that smoke pot than I ever knew. I do not know if it is just because they feel freer about talking about it with people or if it becoming legal has brought more people to try it. I was actually having this conversation with a doctor just a few weeks ago when I was in the hospital watching my mother die. He suggested to me that if I can not sleep and I feel guilty try smoking a couple

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of hits of the pot to just fall asleep. That would help. I asked him why he would prescribe that to someone. My mother’s cancer Dr. said to me he does it with a lot of patients that take medications that keep them awake. The cost of addiction is less consequential to the loss of sleep. The patients need more sleep to help them recover from cancer and if getting addicted to marijuana got them the recovery, they needed he was willing to do that. I have always believed that marijuana is like any other drug, alcohol, sex anything you can become addicted to. Too much of a good thing gets you addicted. But just a little to have a little bit of fun is just that. A person does not get addicted to alcohol off one beer if they only go to a bar on special occasions. Same thing with marijuana if someone is smoking it and they say hey you want to hit this. One or two hits is one thing. It is when you start spending half your paycheck to alter your state of mind does it become an addiction. Just like with food. Eating out once a week for date night or family outing is one thing but eating out at McDonald's every night is just becoming lazy and an addiction to fast food.

I believe every addiction starts as a bad habit. At first, you try something to see how it is. Then you decide to do it a little more. That is when it becomes a bad habit. For example, drinking alcohol every weekend is a bad habit. But not an addiction yet. After a while, you start having a couple of drinks during the week. You find excuses to be at the bar. Maybe pool league or poker league. That is on the way to addiction. When you start making excuses to drink or smoke that is when you have an addiction. Your body whether it is your stomach or your brain desiring the need for food or drugs that is when you have become an addict and dependent on alcohol, drugs, or food. So, no I do not believe addictions are bad habits. I believe addictions are stages that involve bad habits.

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