Common causes of substance addiction
Substance addiction comes in different forms and it can happen for a variety of reasons. The intensity of an addiction varies from substance to substance. However, there are some general reasons why people become addicted to a substance.
- Legality: Due to the fact that substances like Alcohol and Nicotine are legal in most countries, people will use that as an excuse to take them in excess. And in due time, they become addicted. Every year, people die because of substance addiction and in the United States, substance-related deaths is third on the list of deaths that can be prevented.
- Availability: Medications that are legal will be easily available. And this is why people take advantage of this availability to abuse them thereby resulting in their addiction. A good number of these substances that cause addiction are readily available, and this is the fastest way for an addiction to happen.
- Prescribed medications: Because some medications are prescribed by the doctor, people take advantage of that to misuse drugs and they become addicted eventually. For instance, medications like opiates are prescribed to treat injuries and provide relief.
However, people have resorted to taking overdose of opiates because they want an increased effects of what they get when they take the normal dosage.
- Depression: One of the major reasons why people resort to substance addiction is because of mental health problems like depression. People who are depressed do not seek help the right way.
Instead, they will prefer to rely on substances that will end up aggravating their addiction problem.
- Peer pressure: These days, the people we hang out with have a profound decision on the decisions we make. If your friends are people who abuse substances, there is a likely chance that you will be a part of them sooner or later. And the surprising part about this is, due to the peculiarities in our make-up, there is a tendency for some of them to control themselves while others will get addicted.