Addiction Cycle

The Stages of Addiction

As a country, we have a serious addiction cycle problem — the use of alcohol, illegal drugs, and/or prescribed medications in ways that produce harm to ourselves and those around us. These harms are significant financially with total costs of more than $420 billion annually and more than $120 billion in healthcare. But these problems are not simply financial burdens — they deteriorate the quality of our health, educational, and social systems, and they are debilitating and killing us — particularly our young through alcohol-related car crashes, drug-related violence, and drug overdoses. [1]

What is substance use disorder? SUD happens when a person’s use of alcohol or another substance (drug) leads to health issues or problems at work, school, or home. This disorder is also called substance abuse. The exact cause of substance use disorder is not known. Is addiction hereditary? A person’s genes, the action of the drug, peer pressure, emotional distress, anxiety, depression, and environmental stress can all be factors.

Many people who develop a drug or alcohol abuse have depression, attention deficit disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, or other mental problems. A stressful or chaotic lifestyle and low self-esteem are also common. Individuals who grow up seeing their parents using drugs may have a high risk of developing an addiction cycle later in life for both environmental and genetic reasons.

Addiction Cycle Diagram

Cycle of Addiction

There are several phases of drug use that may lead to the addiction cycle. Young people seem to move more quickly through the stages than adults. The stages of the addiction cycle are:

Stage 1: Initial Use

• Experimental use typically involves peers, done for recreational use; the user may enjoy defying parents or other authority figures. The signs listed below may suggest a developing problem even with an initial use:

• Hanging out with different friends
• Not caring about your appearance
• Getting worse grades in school and poor performance at work
• Missing classes or skipping a job
• Losing interest in your favorite activities
• Getting in trouble in school or with the law
• Having different eating or sleeping habits
• Having more problems with family members and friends

Questions to Ask: Do You Have a Problem? 

Answering yes to any of the following questions may indicate the start of an addiction cycle problem:

1. Have you ever ridden in a car driven by someone (including yourself) who had been drinking alcohol or using drugs?
2. Do you ever drink alcohol or use drugs to relax, to feel better, or to fit in?
3. Do you ever drink alcohol or use drugs when you are alone?
4. Do you ever forget things you did while drinking alcohol or using drugs?
5. Do family or friends ever tell you to quit alcohol or drugs?
6. Have you ever gotten into trouble while you were drinking alcohol or taking drugs?

Commonly used substances [4] include:

• Opiates and other narcotics are powerful painkillers that can cause drowsiness, and sometimes intense feelings of well-being, elation, happiness, excitement, and joy. Abuse of these drugs includes heroin addiction, opium, codeine addiction, and prescription drug addiction (that may be prescribed by a doctor or bought illegally)
• Stimulant drugs stimulate the brain and nervous system. Stimulant abuse includes cocaine addiction and amphetamine addiction, such as drugs used for ADHD treatment (methylphenidate, or Ritalin). A person can start needing higher amounts of these drugs over time to feel the same effect.
• Depressants cause drowsiness and reduce anxiety. Substance abuse of this class of drugs includes alcohol abuse, barbiturates abuse, benzo addiction (Valium, Ativan, Xanax), chloral hydrate, and paraldehyde.
• Is LSD addictive? Yes, in a way it causes a person to have psychological dependence. Mescaline, psilocybin (“mushrooms”), and phencyclidine (PCP, or “angel dust“) can cause a person to see things that are not there (hallucinations) and can lead to psychological addiction.
• Marijuana use disorder (cannabis, or hashish)

Symptoms and behaviors of drug use may include:

• Confusion
• Continuing to use drugs, even when health, work, or family are being harmed
• Episodes of violence
• Hostility when confronted about drug dependence
• Lack of control over drug abuse, being unable to stop or reduce alcohol intake
• Making excuses to use drugs
• Missing work or school, or a decrease in performance
• Need for daily or regular drug use to function
• Neglecting to eat
• Not caring about physical appearance
• No longer taking part in activities because of drug abuse
• Secretive behavior to hide drug use
• Using drugs even when alone

Stage 6: Relapse

Individuals recovering from various forms of addiction cycle frequently encounter relapses that have gained acceptance as an almost inevitable part of the recovery process. However, the normalization of relapses can reduce the urgency for providers, patients, and support individuals to prevent them from occurring. Countless individuals lose their employment, families, freedom, and even lives as a consequence of relapses. Relapse prevention must be a central goal of almost every addiction treatment team. 

Breaking the Cycle of Addiction

Once the abuser makes lifestyle changes, abstains from drug abuse, and substitutes their dysfunctional life for a clean one, there’s a real possibility of breaking the addiction cycle. How does addiction recovery happen? Before they even start considering change, an addict is said to be in pre-contemplation. At this point, they haven’t stopped using the drug. When they begin to consider quitting, maybe as passing thoughts, they are in contemplation and preparation stages. [6]

Although they are still abusing drugs or alcohol, they often experience feelings of remorse, shame, and tremendous guilt after. They always resolve never to use it again, though they still end up doing so. Many people consider it the beginning of recovery when the addict begins exploring ways of treatment and counseling. They take action and start attending drug and alcohol rehab programs and support groups.

Different Types of Treatment for Addiction

As the addiction treatment community begins to realize that addiction is itself a mental disorder, the relationship between the addiction cycle and psychiatric disorders becomes more complicated. The greater treatment community largely lacks a proper understanding of dually diagnosed conditions, so these conditions are still treated separately, or worse–not treated or diagnosed at all. Our dual diagnosis treatment centers in We Level Up Florida, California, Texas, and New Jersey are some of the facilities that have professionals trained to help treat co-occurring disorders concurrently. This type of tandem treatment provides some of the best success rates. 

We Level Up treatment tailors the program to the individual and the individual to the program of recovery. We begin by assessing our client’s history of mental health, drugs, and alcohol-related past. The needs of each patient are specific and personalized because we aim to provide comprehensive support for mental health, addiction, and dual diagnosis treatment. The supportive environment is designed accordingly to give patients 24-hour care for sobriety. Most importantly, we hope to have our clients live comfortably within the facility during this crucial and fragile time of breaking the addiction cycle.

Medical Detox