The 10 Most Common Misconceptions About Addictions
It’s important to understand that addiction is not a choice or a character flaw, but rather a chronic disease that alters brain chemistry and function. Recognizing addiction as a brain disorder is crucial for reducing stigma and promoting effective treatment approaches that address the underlying causes, rather than simply blaming the individual. The myths about addiction are damaging not only to addicts and their families but to all of us. What if the many influential business leaders, inspirational artists, best-selling authors, and history-making politicians who join the ranks of recovering addicts were shamed into silence? By understanding addiction as a brain disease and allowing people to recover in the way that works best for them, we can make significant strides in addressing the nation’s leading public health problem.
- Another persistent myth about addiction is the oversimplification that a lack of willpower is alone responsible for a person’s addictive behavior.
- The reality is that addiction doesn’t discriminate based on a drug’s street cred or legal status.
- When someone like my co-author, James, finally looks for help, treatment is often difficult to find or afford.
- By challenging these misconceptions, we aim to foster a greater understanding of addiction as a complex and multifaceted issue, rather than simplifying it as a matter of choice or moral failing.
- Water is the very source of life, and we are often told to drink enough to keep us healthy.
Myth 6: Going “Cold Turkey” Is The Best Way To Quit
To make this process easier, The Recovery Village offers some guidelines to help you find the right rehab. By using these guidelines, you can better identify programs that will promote and empower your lasting recovery. Some people would rather try to fight through their addiction on their own than seek treatment because they believe rehab is a waste of time.
- By dispelling the myth that addiction defines a person, individuals can be seen as valued members of society who are worthy of compassion and respect.
- If someone you love relapses, or if you relapse yourself, don’t give up hope.
- This myth perpetuates the notion that persons with an addiction are solely responsible for their addiction and that they simply need to “try harder” to recover.
- Later, my host at the conference, Liam O’Loughlin, told me over dinner how he had badly hurt his hand, but stopped taking the powerful opioid and anti-inflammatory he had been given after just three days.
- Three or four people raised their hands – say five percent of quitters.
Long Term Opioid Use Can Make Pain Worse
This misconception fails to recognize that addiction is a complex issue that can affect individuals from all walks of life. Studies show that socioeconomic status, education level, and race do not exclusively determine a person’s risk of developing an addiction. Addiction is surrounded by numerous myths and misconceptions that can hinder understanding and support for those affected. Many https://ecosoberhouse.com/ individuals hold beliefs about addiction that are misleading and prevent a compassionate approach to the issue.
Myth: Addiction could never happen to me.
On the contrary, having a good life to recover for may give you the motivation and resources that you need to kick your addiction while you can. These tremendous impulses may help one to understand the irrational and compulsive behaviors of an addict. Addicts will keep using and abusing substances, despite life-threatening circumstances. Quitting most often necessitates the help of professionals and treatment programs. For those not directly affected by addiction, your role is equally important.
You can’t drink too much water
Which returns us to the subservience of even supposedly radical drug policy reformers who buy the medical model hook, line, and sinker – most notably in proposing MAT, medicine-assisted treatment, as a remedy for addiction. MAT replaces street opioids for illicit drug users with prescribed Suboxone, buprenorphine, or methadone. I answered that this was a logical and true answer, myths about addiction and recovery since getting drugs on the street was always more deadly than taking drugs under medical supervision.
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