According to healthcare experts, addiction is a chronic disease that does not occur instantly, or within a day or two. It takes time and happens over the course of several stages.
Confronting someone for their addiction is really a very difficult task. You need to restrain yourself from making hurtful accusations. It is important that you should be mindful of the person’s feeling while confronting.
It is better that you have a complete understanding about the stages and indicatory-signs of addiction so that you’ll eventually know the right time for you to step in and do this in a supportive way in order to gain positive results
Stages of Addiction:
Addiction is a disease that has different levels of difficulties and severity. Some people are hovering at a risk of developing an addiction; some are already addicted and able to get rid of their addiction without reaching to the rock bottom. Early diagnosis and treatment is very beneficial and helps greatly in recovery.
The stages of addiction are:
1. Experimentation: Every addiction starts with experimentation. Person use substance for the first time for various reasons like peer pressure, fun and entertainment, curiosity etc. This is the first stage of developing an addiction. We usually think trying or experimenting with new things will bring excitement into our lives and this experimenting can develop into full-blown addiction.
2. Regular/Social use: This refers to the use of drugs and alcohol in social gatherings. If these social uses cause any harm to the user or any other, physically or otherwise then this is also considered as substance abuse. This type of social use of drugs often leads to addiction.
3. Risky/Problematic use: As the name suggests, substance use at this stage create problems in users’ life. The substance you are using began to create problems in your job, school, home, relationships, and finance. This is the stage where substance use becomes a threat to you and those surrounds you.
4. Dependence: It is a condition when your brain becomes so accustomed to the sensations caused by the use of drugs that you need to consume them in order to function. As the time passes your tolerance level also increases which leads to higher consumptions of drugs to get the same euphoric effect.
5. Addiction: When you dependence evolves into compulsive quality, then it takes the form of Addition. I addiction stage, abstinence from drugs feel like your whole life is spiraling out of your control. You will experience several withdrawal symptoms.
Rituals and Addiction
Stage 2 of addiction, when drug use/abuse becomes a part of users’ rituals, is considered as the easiest time to recognize. It is also the last stage to intervene before the behavior becomes risky.
As mention earlier, the ritual/regular use stage is the stage where the regular substance abuse or behavior goes along with a routine. This is the stage where the person is no longer experimenting with substance rather it has become a major part of his everyday routine.
Their day-to-day routine began revolving around their addiction.
It has also seen that in some cases, the action of routine with which the addiction is carried is as important as the substance of abuse. Rituals can be the time of the day of substance abuse, location, technique or anything that fulfill addict’s certain urges. It holds major significance for the user.
Some rituals play a major role in developing an addiction. Many users deliberately establish a ritual which is easily interrupted, that serves as an excuse for being agitated to use the substance more and more.
With time, it can develop into a subconscious routine. The person tends to engage in the same behavior at the same time and place leads to the development of lifetime habits that revolves around their addiction.
The experience of stages of addiction is different in different individuals. Some people experience the ritual stage for a few days while some for months. However, the ritual is just a stage which is going to evolve into the next level i.e. risky stage. Therefore seeking professional help during the ritual stage is very beneficial to prevent potential dangers and risk of injury and financial crisis.
The best way to do this is finding help, a specialist who is a master or specialist in treating these sorts of behaviors effectively.