While drug overdose deaths decreased between January and September of 2022, it remains 50% higher than before the pandemic. Synthetic opioids are the leading cause of overdoses, and people still face barriers to accessing treatment. Even more, a lack of understanding of drug dependency and how it leads to addiction prevents people from seeking help.
If you’re struggling with drug use, learning more about how dependency and addiction work is essential. Read on to learn everything you need to know about drug dependence and addiction and how to find treatment options.
What Is Drug Dependence?
It’s possible to become dependent on drugs without forming an addiction to them. With drug dependence, you need one or more drugs to function normally.
Many people form drug dependence when they rely on specific medications to treat chronic medical conditions like:
- Chronic back pain
- Migraines
- Arthritis
- Hepatitis
- ADHD
- High blood pressure
- Depression
After taking a drug for many years, your body can become physically dependent, causing you to have withdrawal symptoms.
For example, almost anybody who takes opioids long-term for chronic pain will experience withdrawal symptoms after stopping.
Symptoms of Drug Dependence
Drug dependency symptoms involve physical symptoms of withdrawal that occur when your body experiences stress from a lack of the drug. These symptoms include:
- Body aches
- Sweating
- Nausea and vomiting
- Muscle weakness
- Trouble sleeping
- Anxiety and depression
If symptoms become severe, you may need assistance from your physician or a treatment program to taper off slowly.
Drug Dependence vs. Drug Addiction
Many people use dependence and addiction interchangeably, but there are key differences.
Drug dependence may involve some symptoms of addiction, like physical dependence. With dependence, you have a tolerance for higher levels of substances, which can lead to the desire for more frequent doses.
You can also form a psychological dependence, feeling that you need the drug to live a normal life.
Drug addiction or substance use disorder (SUD) is a condition that causes you to use substances despite the consequences. SUD involves uncontrolled use that affects relationships and careers.
SUD also includes distorted behaviors and thinking, making controlling behaviors difficult.
It’s important to note that SUD can be mild; in these cases, you might hear it referred to as mild addiction or mild SUD.
All in all, drug abuse can lead to dependence, which can lead to addiction.
What Causes Drug Dependence to Turn Into Addiction?
This is an important question, especially if you have a loved one suffering from addiction. The fact is, there are common reasons why people use drugs and become addicted, that include:
- Peer pressure
- For fun
- To cope with life events
- To escape from reality
- To fit in
- To feel less worthless
But these reasons go much deeper than simply trying to fit in. There are key factors behind these behaviors that include the following.
Genetic Factors
Studies on siblings, fraternal twins, and identical twins show that as much as 50% of your alcohol or drug addiction risk is influenced by genetics.
While conditions like breast and ovarian cancer are linked to a specific mutation, addiction is much more complex. Multiple gene variations can cause addiction, contributing to a person’s overall risk.
It’s essential to understand that not everyone with a predisposition will develop an addiction. This is because other contributing factors can influence how strongly genetic factors affect an individual.
These contributing factors include:
Early Traumatic Experiences
Experiencing abuse, neglect, or trauma as a child can affect brain development and increase the risks of addiction.
Genetics and the gender of the person experiencing the trauma play a role in how it manifests later in life. This impacts specific addiction-related behaviors like emotional regulation and impulse control.
Childhood trauma resulting in PTSD makes people more likely to self-medicate with substances like cocaine, heroin, or alcohol. This is especially true if children don’t get the support and counseling they need.
Parental Substance Use
Many people grow up with a family dynamic that heavily influences their childhood experiences. One of the biggest influences is parental substance use.
Growing up with parents who use drugs means children can experience violence, neglect, and a lack of emotional care.
This ultimately changes your entire perception of life and how you see the world as a child. In addition, both parental substance use and early traumatic experiences can leave significant lasting effects.
Environmental Factors
Having a low socioeconomic status and living in a high-crime area can contribute to dependency and addiction.
In these situations, people might have easy access to substances from a young age. This chronic exposure can lead to impulsive behaviors, and brain changes early on.
Additionally, people exposed to this environment early in life have increased risks of unemployment and homelessness as adults. This is mainly from the effects of drugs and lack of family support and education.
History of Mental Health Conditions
Addiction and mental health are closely connected. In fact, many people with SUD have co-existing mental health disorders, like:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- ADHD
- PTSD
- Bipolar disorder
- Personality disorders
- Schizophrenia
Even though a person has both a mental health disorder and SUD doesn’t mean one caused the other. In many cases, people use drugs or alcohol to self-medicate to decrease mental health symptoms.
On the other hand, using substances like drugs can affect the brain’s chemistry and structure. This makes a person more likely to develop a mental health disorder.
For these reasons, addressing mental health is a crucial component of addiction treatment programs.
Drug Dependency and Addiction Treatment Options
Both drug dependency and addiction can become dangerous if left untreated. Once your body adapts to the drugs, it can result in an overdose and even death.
Proper treatment can reverse dependence and addiction, but you must prepare for ongoing treatment.
Detox
The first step of any treatment plan involves detoxing your body from all substances. This phase of treatment is essential whether you have dependency or addiction.
If you’re addicted to drugs like opioids or heroin, you’ll need medication-assisted treatment (MAT). These drugs can cause severe withdrawal symptoms like:
- Anxiety
- Psychosis
- Nausea and vomiting
- Elevated heart rate
- High blood pressure
MAT consists of medications like Suboxone to help reduce withdrawal symptoms and block the effects of opioid drugs. You may also receive other medications to treat withdrawal symptoms like anxiety and insomnia.
If you’re dependent on other types of drugs, you’ll still receive medications to help manage withdrawal symptoms.
Behavioral Therapy
Most addiction treatment programs use cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). This is a talk therapy that addresses and changes negative thinking patterns.
Negative thinking patterns can lead to addictive behaviors and can undermine addiction recovery. Examples of negative thinking patterns include:
- Telling yourself you can’t handle life sober
- Thinking it’s fine to take drugs because of past trauma
- Assuming you aren’t strong enough to stay sober
- Thinking you won’t benefit from therapy
CBT combats these thinking patterns by helping you become more aware of them. Once you’re more aware, you can work on changing these patterns. CBT uses various techniques like mindfulness and journaling.
Inpatient Treatment
Inpatient treatment programs are best for people with severe addiction and withdrawal symptoms.
This treatment program requires you to live in the facility during treatment. Programs can last from 30 to 90 days, depending on your needs.
Inpatient treatment removes you from your environment, allowing you to focus on healing your mind and body.
While in treatment, you’ll have individual and group therapy sessions. Treatment also consists of nutritional and life skills counseling. You’ll learn various methods for reducing stress, like meditation.
Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)
PHP treatment is a step down from inpatient treatment but is still an intensive program. PHP is five to six days a week, and you’ll receive treatment at least five hours daily.
PHP is a good option for people with severe addiction who struggle with cravings.
Remember that while PHP allows you to live at home, you won’t be able to work a full-time job while in treatment.
Intensive Outpatient (IOP) Treatment
People with dependency or mild addiction can benefit from outpatient treatment.
Outpatient treatment is the least restrictive type of treatment. You’ll attend sessions three days a week for three to four hours.
You’ll get individual and group therapy and join group activities throughout the week. IOP treatment takes longer than inpatient and PHP programs but is still very effective.
The most significant advantage of IOP is that you can live at home and work full-time.
Find Treatment for Drug Dependency and Addiction
If you struggle with drug dependency or drug addiction, you aren’t alone. In either case, getting treatment is the best option.
Detox to Rehab can provide you with a supportive community and resources to get and stay on the path toward sobriety. Our mission is to continue to build a proactive community that educates people about addiction.
We can help you find drug and alcohol treatment programs in your area, including inpatient and outpatient treatment options.
Make sure to contact us today by visiting us online or calling (866) 578-7471 to speak to a care counselor.
