When people think of substance abuse, they automatically think of alcohol and illegal drugs or street dugs, such as cocaine and heroin. What most people are not going to think about are the drugs that are given to people with the permission of their doctor. When people abuse a substance, it is not always something that is illegal. It can be prescription drugs that people, even teenagers, sometimes abuse. In fact, studies show that while pain medication is one of the most abused substances in North America, medications such as cough syrup are often abused by young adults. For many people, prescription medication is easier and sometimes cheaper to acquire than the street drugs that are usually associated with substance abuse. It is so easy to acquire these kinds of legal drugs that young adults will often go for these ones before moving on to stronger drugs. Some studies that have been done show that about ten percent of substance abusers will use cough medication, while twenty percent will abuse tranquilizers and another twenty percent will abuse pain medication. Aside from being relatively easy to acquire, it could be that many of these medications are addictive; meaning that some people who take the drug might become dependent on the drug because it relieves pain, allows them to relax or gives them the buzz or high that they are looking for. While these medications may not seem harmful to abuse, they can be. Even taking cough medication can eventually become detrimental to a person’s physical and mental health.
Some people will become dependant on these prescription drugs because they are trying to self-medicate. It could be that someone is having difficulty at school, is trying to fit in with the popular crowd or they are trying to hide from their depression. Adolescents especially are open to developing addictions. It is a time where their brains are changing and the hormones and other chemicals in the brain can become unbalanced; this can drive an individual into a depression. When adolescents become addicted to these kinds of prescription drugs and are not treated, the addiction can carry on into adulthood. While many can become addicted at the adolescent age, many adults can be just as susceptible to developing a dependency on these types of drugs.
For a person to finally accept that they might have an addiction or trying to convince someone that they should get help can be a difficult task. Many people who have developed a dependency will deny that they have a problem. Others will realize that they might have a problem but don’t know how to get help. One of the main reasons why people will avoid seeing a therapist or counselor for help is because they are embarrassed or shy to go for help. Today, online therapy or online counseling is available for people who would rather contact a therapist from their private computer at home. The online therapist or counselor can help the person to get over their addiction and work on improving their life, as well as any other issues they may have. The therapy is also confidential and does allow for someone to get help in a more discreet way. Online therapy or counseling is just like conventional therapy, it is just working with an online therapist or online counselor in the format that you feel most comfortable with.
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