Top 5 Causes of Substance Abuse and How to Treat Them

Substance abuse is a devastating disorder. It destroys countless lives every year. Approximately 23 million people were in need of drug treatment but only around 1.8 million received treatment in 2008. This number is increasing and in 2017 has skyrocketed. Like anything, in order to treat drug addiction, you need to understand what causes it. Many of these causes combine to create a serious substance abuse problem.

This is where rehab comes into play. Rehab will help you discover the cause or causes of your addiction and deal with the consequences. If you have an addiction, especially if you’ve tried to quit in the past, you need assistance to treat the problem at its source. Rehab can provide that assistance.

1. Stress

Stress is often called the number one cause of substance abuse. The effects of stress can be very dangerous to your health and peace of mind. Although each person responds to stress differently, for most people it creates the desire to escape the situation.

Drugs and alcohol help provide this escape. You take a drug and everything including your stress goes away while the drug is affecting you. After you do this just a few times, it is possible to become dependent on the drugs or alcohol. Your body begins to need them to deal with the stress.

2. Environment

You might have heard the expression, “you are a product of your environment.” Nowhere else can you see evidence of this as with substance abuse. A person who lives in a high crime area or whose friends or family use drugs are more likely to be users themselves. The access and availability that your environment gives you is at times, directly responsible for your drug addiction.

3. Genetics

Like environment, genetics also play a part in addiction. Although scientists are not sure how or why, if you have close relatives who are prone to addiction, you will be as well. Currently they are working to isolate the genes responsible for a predisposition to addiction.

4. Physical Illness or Trauma

Physical illness and trauma can cause addiction through opportunity. If you are prescribed painkillers for an illness or trauma, it is very easy to become addicted to them. Over 20 percent of treatment admissions are due to opiates, powerful painkilling drugs.

When you are in pain, it is easy to justify using a drug or alcohol to escape from it. Many of the drugs that allow you to do this are highly addictive. This includes drugs like methamphetamine, heroin, prescription painkillers, and others.

5. Mental Illness or Trauma

Mental illness and traumatic events have a profound effect on your mind, body, and wellbeing. Many people use drugs to stop the emotional pain that they are feeling. In the case of mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety, they self-medicate. Using the substance in a way treats their illness so they continue using. This continued use creates the addiction.

Treating the Causes of Substance Abuse with Rehab

Each of these causes can be combined to compound the addiction. Although there other things that contribute to the development of an addiction, they generally fall under one of these main categories.

In order to end the addiction, you have to solve the underlying issues. If you just treat the symptoms of addiction, you will find that your addiction comes back or you wind up addicted to something else.

Fortunately, there is something that you can do to correct the causes of the addiction. When you see a counselor, like those at Florida rehab centers, they will teach you how to avoid, eliminate, or cope with the cause of your addiction.

If you are ready to get treat the cause of your addiction, instead of just treating the symptoms, call 800-654-0987. Isn’t it time to be addiction free?

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