Drug and alcohol risk factors explained for Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer residents and other parts of Alberta by Options Okanagan Treatment Center in Kelowna, British Columbia treating drug and alcohol addiction and recovery.
Is drug addiction a disease? This has been a major topic of discussion in the last couple of decades, but thanks to the recent advancements in the medical industry, we have been able to prove that drug addiction is actually disease. Drug addiction is a neurological illness that is characterized by a poor dopamine control system found in the brain. If you already have this predisposition in your brain, you will find yourself searching for something that will trigger a greater dopamine rush. This is all with an aim of achieving satisfaction that normal individuals will be able to get through primal instincts like eating and drinking.
Once your brain has been used to the dopamine levels released by drug consumption, it becomes difficult to achieve the same levels of satisfaction in other areas of your day to day life. Methamphetamines and cocaine are especially effective at making the brain release high amounts of dopamine, and this leads to the user constantly looking for these drugs to be able to achieve satisfaction. This is especially something bound to people with low dopamine control.
However, the poor neurological function is not the only cause of drug addiction. There are other many factors that contribute to drug addiction and it usually takes a combination of these many factors to become addicted to a certain drug or substance.
Risk Factors for Addiction
Addiction to drugs is never a result of just a single problem in the victim’s life. It is developed through the combination of factors and situations that the patient might have been exposed to.
In regards to this, there are three main areas of risk factors for drug addiction. They include drug choices and delivery method, biological factors and environmental factors as well.
Environmental Factors and Influences
One of the biggest risk factors that can lead to drug addiction is the home life. Statistics show that children who come from uncaring or abusive households are more prone to becoming addicted to drugs. The drugs are used as emotional substitutes for their unhappiness. Ideally, a home where the kids are regularly exposed to drugs or alcohol is extremely influential in the potential development of drug and alcohol addiction.
Research has shown that the younger a person is when they are exposed or introduced to drugs, the more likely they are to become addicts to the same. At this young age, the brain is still developing and drug use can change the way the brain forms and operates, especially at the adolescent age and this increases the chances of addiction later in a person’s life.
Poor coping skills is another drug addiction risk factor. This is because poor coping skills tend to lead to the inability of an individual to handle stress. Stress is a factor that leads many to drug and alcohol abuse as a means to escape or get away from it all. This is especially prevalent in people who have jobs that call for daily stress and pressure. You might have heard of professionals in banking and stock exchange sectors who turned to drugs as a means of dealing with the daily pressure and mental stress.
Peer pressure is yet another risk factor common in young people in their teenage lives. The pressure of being accepted by peers or socially accepted by others is one of the main reasons that one might have tried drugs in the first place. Addicts who gave in to peer pressure say that saying no to those who influenced them was a hard to say. In most cases, the addicts would take part in drug and alcohol usage to please others and have a sense of fitting in somewhere.
Options Okanagan Drug And Alcohol Treatment Centers in Kelowna, Salmon Arm and Vancouver, British Columbia – Men and Women are recovering and healing from Alcohol and Drug Abuse at our treatment center here in the Okanagan right now.
Our unique and distinctive drug treatment program allows men and women to come in from Calgary as well as Edmonton as we offer airport pickup.
Numerous clients come to us from Calgary and Edmonton and other locations in Alberta and even other provinces for Opiate addiction treatment, meth drug treatment, many other drug and alcohol addictions for rehabilitation because of the uniqueness of our treatment center.
Our Treatment Location:
Options Okanagan Alcohol Treatment Center
551 Sherrydale Crescent, Kelowna, British Columbia, V1V 2E6
Toll Free Phone Number : 1-855-335-0331
