Substance Abuse

About Substance Abuse

Substance abuse is a continuous patterned use of drugs or alcohol which have a negative effect on health, relationship with others and work. It is difficult dealing with substance abuse, especially when one has not yet realized that it is a problem. After that it is a battle as substance abuse is not something you can fight with willpower alone.This article aims to help you, or a loved one, tackle substance abuse.

One of the most important things to do, is to realize that you have a drug or alcohol problem. It is the first step to overcoming substance abuse. It is not normal, and it is not a friend. Abusing drugs, or alcohol will ruin your life, family, career, and it will still eat at your health. Understand that it is a problem and that will be the first step to getting your life on track..

Note that it is not an escape from whatever problems might have pushed you into it in the first place. Instead it is another problem. Try to deal with issues a different way. Whenever you feel depressed or anxious for example, do not look to alcohol or drugs. They are not a fix.

Avoid the people you usually get drunk or high with. Maybe that friend you always go to the bar with or the friend who brings the drugs. When you spend time with them you will find it harder to climb out of the pit of substance abuse, so avoid them as much as possible so they don’t influence you.

Have support all around you as much as possible. Surround yourself with friends and family who want you to get rid of substance abuse in your life. It is understandable that relationships might not be the same due to how the addiction might have affected you, but show them that you are serious and want to change your life.

Fight your urges by staying busy. Usually urges will come on strong and last 15 to 30 minutes and you have to stay strong and not succumb to them. Keeping yourself busy will help immensely. When you are busy your mind has less time to be idle enough to wander over to the thought of your addiction.

Keep busy with something that you love. The activity that you choose to help you battle substance abuse must be something that you love, and something that you can get lost in for hours on end because if you choose something that you aren’t genuinely interested in, your mind will drift, and you will end up at square one, thinking of your addiction.

Manage stressful situations properly. Extreme frustration or sadness could drive you back even when you know it will not help but you would perhaps just want to numb the pain. Maybe your girlfriend leaves you despite all your efforts to get better because she couldn’t wait, or your husband takes away your kids in court, or you lose a job, do not let it deter you, focus on getting better because if you do that, you will be able to fix the things that went wrong.

Try out new methods of stress relief when trying to avoid falling into old habits after a stressful encounter. Try reading a book, or going on a hike, or taking care of babies,or yoga and meditation. Any calming thing that you could do that would not be drugs or alcohol, do it instead.

Get drug counseling or abuse counseling.There are several substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors with substance abuse counselor certification who can help you. Substance abuse therapy will give you the assistance of a professional. You can search on Google for the closest offices, you can search ‘drug counseling near me’ or ‘drug and alcohol counseling near me’ or ‘substance abuse counseling near me’ to speak to the closest professional.

Now that you have read these tips, apply them to your daily life to help you, or your loved one on their journey to sobriety.