Every year more than 100,000 Americans die due to alcoholism and drug addiction related causes. These deaths could be avoided if the early warning signs and risk factors where heeded and proper help was obtained. Genetics, environment, and personality all contribute to the risks factors of alcoholism and drug addiction and warning signs can be as small as complaints from friends and family about the behavior being exhibited by the addict.
By understanding the risk factors for alcoholism and drug abuse, proper steps can be taken reducing the number of lives lost needlessly. There is no one risk factor that can determine if a person is going to become a drug addict or alcoholic but rather a combination of risk factors in one’s life along with a persons biological makeup including genetics and their exposure to drugs/alcohol.
Risk Factors include:
Genetics: It has been shown that alcoholism and drug addiction can be inherited meaning if you have a family member with addiction issues, your risks increases.
Age: The younger the age of use, the higher the risk. Adolescents have a higher tendency toward reckless behavior and the ideology that nothing can “hurt” them.
Social Group: If the people one hangs around with frequently use drugs and alcohol, the risk rises. Friends are highly influential in ones behavior and even more so the younger the person.
Stress: Stress can be a killer on its own but for some a reason to use drugs or alcohol to take the edge off. This can become a deadly cycle in its own if the person all ready has predispositions for addiction.
Mental Disorders: People suffering from depression or anxiety disorders in particular are more likely to abuse alcohol and drugs.
Drug of Choice: The way the drug is introduced into the body can increase the risk of addiction. Drugs that are smoked or injected into a vein are more likely to cause addiction because they produce a quick, powerful effect — they reach the brain sooner than drugs that are taken by mouth. This rapid "high" also fades faster, causing the person to need more and more of the substance to regain the pleasurable feeling.
If you need help, are struggling with an addiction, or know of someone who is, please contact A Better Tomorrow Treatment Center today. We are here to help.
http://www.abttc.net/
Phone: 800.971.1586
Fax: 800.401.8464
24 Hour Addiction HelpLine
Tel. (800) 396-9389 (7 days 24 hours)
e-mail: info@24houraddictionhelp.com
http://www.24houraddictionhelp.org/
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Any loss of life is sad but a life that is lost because of improper diagnosis or one that is not caught at all, and could have been prevented, is even worse.
ReplyDeleteStress sure led me down the wrong road in college. I became addicted to ritalin and had to actually drop out of school for a year to get my life back together again. I started seeing a psychiatrist and he has me on a low dose med to treat depression and I'm feeling much better now.
ReplyDeleteMaybe these problems would have been detected if they had gone in for annual physicals. Most people don't for a variety of reasons. Most of them will say they just don't have the time.
ReplyDelete100,000 people dying a year is almost too much to accept. How is that happening in todays world where there is so much that can be done to stop it? Is this a war that will ever be overcome? I certainly hope it is.
ReplyDeleteStress is a killer, that's for sure. It affects us in ways we can't begin to imagine. I've turned to alcohol myself when things pile up on me. I need something to take the edge off of the pain. I know it's not good or healthy but I don't know what else to do.
ReplyDelete