The Factors Associated With Addiction

If you or your loved one is dealing with addiction, there are ways to get help to overcome it. The symptoms of the pathology will vary according to the addiction suffered by the patient and their individual personality characteristics. However, there are several common signs in most cases of addiction:

  • Loss of control of use, with episodes of compulsive use that affect the life in general of the person
  • Sad mood
  • Irritability
  • Impaired quality of life
  • Denial or self-deception
  • Anxiety
  • Obsession
  • Excessive worry or restlessness
  • Insomnia
  • Guilt

Medical Tests For Addictions

In the first place, there are self-diagnostic tests, which can be answered by people with addiction symptoms or relatives, to make a first assessment of the severity of the addictive problem. In many cases, the closest people, such as friends and family, are the ones who detect the first behaviors or physical or psychological signs of addiction.

Specialists follow various diagnostic criteria to detect possible addictions:

  • Drug Addiction Tests: These tests are a useful tool in the detection, diagnosis, and monitoring of treatment.
  • Medical history: it is important to know the family history to establish a complete clinical picture.
  • Physical exam: There are several key signs that a specialist can identify in a complete medical physical exam.
  • Psychopathological evaluation 

The Causes

What are the causes of addiction? The causes of addiction are multiple and interact in a complex way that leads to addictive disorder. The causes are different for each patient, so each case must be individualized and a study of their personal and family history must be carried out, in order to make the most appropriate diagnosis.

Personality factors play a fundamental role in the development of an addiction. There are some specific characteristics, such as difficulty managing one’s own feelings or low tolerance for frustration, that facilitate addictive disorder.

The Prevention

Can any addiction be prevented? Addictions are difficult to prevent, but there are risk factors that can increase your chances:

  • Social factors: living in a very disadvantaged environment
  • Family factors: lack of ties with the family or relatives addicted to drug use
  • Individual factors: behavior problems or low self-esteem
  • School factors: for example, school failure in adolescents

It is important to work and educate at an early age and try to offer a good emotional education, to avoid falling into different addictions.

Treatments For Addictions

There are multiple methods to treat different addictions, depending on the individual situation of each patient. Among them, you would find:

  • Individual psychiatric treatment
  • Individual and/or group psychotherapy
  • Self-help groups
  • Couples and family therapy
  • Guidance and therapy sessions for family and friends

Conclusion

Once the patient can quit the addiction, a recovery process will follow, to regain control of his life, and return to being productive. In the case of suffering a relapse, you should go to the specialist to restart the treatment, modify it or try a different one. If you really want to know more about how to overcome an addiction, go to a reliable source like https://www.ascendantny.com/.