Preventing Problems

Preventing and resolving past problems is one of the key components of the Narconon Arrowhead drug rehab program. Most addicts and alcoholic have an army of past problems following them into rehab and another mountain of problems to confront when rehab treatment is completed. Narconon specializes in helping the individual to attain skills and abilities that will prove vital in confronting and resolving the many life situations that his or her addiction has brought about. In fact, in many cases the addiction itself was the result of mistakenly using drugs or alcohol in an attempt to handle some past problems or upsets. The drugs quickly added to the problems instead of being the solution hoped for. Real solutions come from increased skills and abilities in confronting and effectively handling life’s challenges.

Addiction is a chronic, relapsing condition, characterized by compulsive drug-seeking and drug use which is accompanied by functional and molecular changes in the brain. In addition to being addicted to methamphetamine, chronic methamphetamine abusers exhibit symptoms that can include violent behavior, anxiety, confusion, and insomnia. They also can display a number of psychotic features, including paranoia, auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances, and delusions. The paranoia can result in homicidal as well as suicidal thoughts. With chronic use, tolerance for methamphetamine can develop. Users may take higher doses of the drug, take it more frequently, or change their method of drug intake. In some cases, abusers forego food and sleep while injecting as much as a gram of the drug every 2 to 3 hours over several days until the user runs out of the drug or is too disorganized to continue. Chronic abuse can lead to psychotic behavior, characterized by intense paranoia, visual and auditory hallucinations, and out-of-control rages that can be coupled with extremely violent behavior.

Painkiller addictions are among some of the most tenacious and difficult addictions to beat despite the widespread erroneous belief than these are safer to use than street drugs such as heroin. These painkiller addictions often result from the use of opiods. These are opium type compounds such as Codeine, Hydrocodone, and Oxycodone. Painkiller addictions result from interference with the nervous system couple with stimulation of pleasure receptors in the brain. This accounts for the almost epidemic abuse of these drugs to get ‘high’. As tolerance increases more and more of the drug is needed to stave off withdrawal and maintain the high. Narconon Arrowhead drug rehab regimens fully address the endless cycle of painkiller addiction to a full resolution and the ability to live a drug free and productive life!

We can’t help but wonder what causes one person to become in drug or substance abuse while another person can walk away from it. Drugs or alcohol are use in an effort to handle a problem or physical/emotional pain of some sort. The drug is found to offer short term relief to the problem or pain. What happens in many cases is the individual continues to use drugs and alcohol to mask the symptoms and obtain relief rather than handle the actual source of the problem or pain. Most drugs used have a tolerance factor where it takes more and more of the drug more and more often to achieve the desired results. This leads to abusive and addictive use which adds additional problems and pains and yet at this point the person thinks there is no other solution or relief available. Thus the person enters the downward spiral of abuse drug and substance abuse and addiction.

As any loved one of an addict can tell you, the effects of addiction go far and beyond just the effects created on the addict himself. The amount of stress and distress created in the wake of active addiction can and do effect the emotional and physical well being of loved ones and associates or the addict. Financial ruin, destroyed marriages, emotional upsets to children, distrust, and repulsion are just a few that can be named. The sad part of it is the fact that the addict himself is often unaware of creating these situations until they have reached a breaking point. As drug and alcohol addiction reduce awareness of the environment and often distort it, it is a sad commentary that the addict when he becomes aware of these harms actually feel great guilt and depression, which often leads to more and more drugs in an attempt to numb him or herself.