If you have realised that you are addicted then you are 50% there all you need is determination, but if you are reading this for a loved one that has an addiction to something then I will advice you to take them to a rehab centre or a psychiatrist.
When abusing a substance or performing an activity the mass release of dopamine causes you to feel pleasure. Dopamine is not only responsible for pleasure/reward but it is also responsible for various other function which are learning and memory. When you feel pleasure because of something you learn that this thing provides me with pleasure and you tend to associate that substance with pleasure that you feel which your body remembers because dopamine is also responsible for memory and that is why you want to use it over and over again.
The current theory of addiction states that dopamine interacts with another neurotransmitter, glutamate, to take over the brain’s system of reward-related learning. This system has an important role in sustaining life because it links activities needed for human survival (such as eating and sex) with pleasure and reward.
Because it takes over the brain’s system of reward-related learning you tend to remember the pleasure felt by using that substance or doing a certain activity. Glutamate also plays an important role in sustaining life because it link activities needed for human survival because of which you feel that substance is necessary for survival making you feel the need to take it.
The reward circuit in the brain includes areas involved with motivation and memory as well as with pleasure. Addictive substances and behaviours stimulate the same circuit—and then overload it. Which motivates you take that substance.
Repeated exposure to an addictive substance or behaviour causes nerve cells in the nucleus accumbens and the prefrontal cortex (the area of the brain involved in planning and executing tasks) make you want or crave a substance/activity giving you the need to perform it. Alongside the stimulation of the reward circuit, you get motivation to try to get that substance or perform that activity.
As you abuse that substance on a daily basis you tend to develop tolerance making you want to have more of get the same effect produced like before. Which then slowly becomes an addiction as you start becoming dependant on it. This happens because the amount of dopamine produced gets reduced if you use the same amount every day and because the pleasure is gone you feel the need to take more hence it becomes an addiction overtime.
When recovering from an addiction a lot of factors play an important role like environment, willpower, medications you take, people you stay with, lifestyle plays an important role, discipline.
Dopamine is present in different areas of the brain including ones that are responsible for decision making, memory judgement also get physically affected as result the overall effect is to have drug seeking behaviour driven by habit rather than conscious though like a reflex rather than a choice.
Without even knowing it, a person comes to associate stress and emotions with the substance which can be anything like drugs or food as these things are what gives them pleasure. And same thing for other addictions
If someone drinks Caffeine on a daily basis, they will develop a tolerance just as they would to other drugs or alcohol. After a while, the user requires more and more Caffeine to produce the same effects of alertness.
Because of increased tolerance a person requires more of the substance making them require to use it more and more to produce the same effects.
Abuse of the addictive substance/activity impacts on area where that controls motivation and pleasure.
All drugs create a surge of dopamine that causes it to flood the reward pathway 10 times higher than a natural reward would.
To not get addicted to anything or recover from an addiction you need to improve your environment, willpower, medications you take, people you stay with, lifestyle plays an important role, discipline.
Stop being emotionally attached to it. If you rely on it for depression and stuff then find something that can uplift your mood and something that you can do when you’re depressed and rely on that is not addictive.
Get a grip on your emotions. Try meditation, try to be calm. Always make sure you know what you are doing.
Have discipline in your life. Start working out, follow a healthy schedule. Healthy body always has a healthy mind. Do meditation stop being angry, think before you abuse any substance.
Addictive substances tend to alter your mood make you feel good which makes you depend on it so if you have a grip on your mood then you will be able to overcome addictions.
Each rehabilitation focuses on discipline and behaviour so start living a life of discipline with good habits which will automatically correct your wrong behaviours but to do this you need to make sure you are determined and are in the right environment.
One of the characteristics associated with the addictive personality is the inability to delay gratification. People who have self-discipline find it easier to delay gratification as they know that the wait for the end will be worth it. Attending classes like yoga, martial arts, meditation can help you become more disciplined as these activities exercise discipline.
Having discipline starts from your intentions and thoughts. People who have thoughts like “I should” or “I will” tend to be less successful. When you set your goals have it start from “I want to”. Having the proper mindset is the key to achieving discipline.
Try sticking with people who already exercise discipline as they will be the ones that will help you achieve discipline in life.
The most important role discipline plays in addiction recovery is building healthy habits which will keep your body healthy both physically and mentally.
Drug addicts are also affected mentally so rehabilitation centres also focus on helping addicts recover from mental problems so having great mental health is very helpful as it will help you retain your urges and emotions.
Mental health and substance use disorders sometimes occur simultaneously because:
Substance use occurs mostly with people with mental health issues like;
Teens may abuse substances because it makes them feel less anxious and nervous as it alleviates their mood, making them feel better before going to public gatherings or school. Or a teen may start smoking marijuana before events to calm down before social events and before they know it, they may start smoking marijuana every day. But if they would have been mentally strong then they would’ve been more confident and less nervous. This is why having good mental health is important.
To improve your mental health, you could:
Use your body-Find an activity or sport that you like then a something like music that you like because without finding expression to their emotional dimension and without finding enough exertion for the physical body you are bound to become depressive.
Connect with nature- Your physical your physiological and psychological health can be very easily managed if you are in touch with the elements of nature, of water, soil, light and things like that. If the more exposed you are, the more balanced you are both physiologically and psychologically, which must happen to every human being.
Eat food that enhances your mental and stability- All of us ned to be physically good and mentally good not just one. So, try drinking a glass of ash gourd juice every day, you will see clearly the sharpness of your intellect will enhance itself, you will be mentally much sharper than the way you are right now. Daily consumption of ash gourd, you will see distinctly your mind seems to be clearer and sharper. This will be noticeable within a few weeks of consumption of ash gourd.
Make honey culture part of your thing. Psychological stability, physical well-being, vitality, all these things can be greatly enhanced, simply consuming daily honey.
Keep your colon clean-Your colon not clean and psychological disturbances are very directly connected.
Engineer yourself for wellbeing- There are only four things with you right now that you can make use of - your body, your mind, your emotion and your energy. If you manage these four things well, they will produce a certain level of life for you.
Now, for most human beings, who are in different various levels of activity in their life, they need all these four things to be in a reasonably good shape. So Inner Engineering is trying to cater to that, as to how to bring a human being to physical health, mental peace and joy, emotional stability and exuberance and highly effervescent energy and balance within themselves. If this is achieved, you have reasonably complete human beings, who'll live their life fully.
Another thing is common sense. Just because you have discipline and strong mental health doesn’t mean that you will try to take any substance for experience and not get addicted to it especially a drug like heroin which can make you addicted to it easily. Taking one shot of heroin can make you easily addicted to it. A lot of people underestimate heroin and try to take one shot for experience but end up addicted to it. Because heroin is filled with a lot of chemicals the addiction of heroin is all based on science which manipulates your hormones to take it again and again.
A major reason as to why people turn to drugs or alcohol is because of their environment and their friends and peers is what mainly comes under this category. Having friends that forced you to start taking drugs or alcohol are people you need to stay away from and stay with better successful people who will support you.
If you find it hard to throw a substance away or stop yourself from If you are engaging in an addictive behavior, you could have a photo of God or a loved one at that place, so that you will feel guilty and refrain from doing it.
I would like to conclude by saying that the reason why your addicted to something is because of poor mental health. Whenever a person tries to quit from an addiction they are stepping back into reality, if their surrounding is boring, or trash or sad then they tend to go back to that addiction. Only mentally stronger people will be able to not get addicted to anything. They may smoke weed a couple times with their friends or try heroine once or twice but never get addicted to it. Why? Because they are mentally strong, they have absolute control over their mind that they can pave their own path by changing the strings of fate.
The root to curing addictions is to improve your mental health so much so that you feel so mentally happy, grateful, present than your baseline life happiness is actually above when you distract yourself with an addiction.
You know why mentally strong people never get addicted to anything? Because their baseline happiness is far higher than the high, they get from smoking weed, or taking heroine, inhaling cocaine.
You need to be so mentally healthy and happy that you will know that indulging in this you would actually feel less happy, less pleasurable because of the mental health you have built.
Having an immensely high attribute of mental health is the shortcut to curing any addiction that not many people will ever tell you.
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