If someone you love has a substance abuse disorder, you might hear the terms dependence and addiction a lot. Yet, do you have a clear understanding of the relationship between the two? What is drug dependence, and what is drug addiction? How are these two things different? Pines Recovery Life Detox can guide individuals through…
Addictions cause psychological and physical changes in those who have them. Even a nicotine addiction can impact the way someone acts and feels. Addiction to one substance could indicate that someone uses unhealthy coping methods to overcome stressful events. Therefore, other types of addictions, such as those to drugs and alcohol, may follow a reliance…
Opioid addiction has a serious impact not only on the person who has a substance use disorder but also on their friends, family, colleagues, and others. Addiction is a disease that has far-reaching effects requiring professional support to heal from. Addiction recovery has the potential to help them back to a place of sobriety so…
COVID has changed more than how we shop, interact with one another, and watch the evening news. The pandemic has had a profound impact on substance abuse treatment. At Pines Recovery Life Detox in South Florida, we have implemented state and federal recommendations regarding personal protective equipment, isolation before admittance into a drug and alcohol detox…
It’s essential to reshape the perception of addiction. In the past, those with substance abuse disorders had to live with the stigmas associated with addiction. We understand that addiction is a disease, and proper treatment can result in higher recovery rates. At Pines Recovery Life Detox in South Florida, our patients receive care, attention, and…
Prescription medications can put people at risk of addiction. That can happen even if you take the drugs as prescribed. It’s common in situations where a person struggles with pain or mental health disorders that require stimulants. Prescription drug addiction is serious and can impact the quality of life and a person’s life span. It…
Entering a residential drug detox program is an exciting step toward sobriety and healing, but that doesn’t mean you won’t experience some anxiety or thoughts of uncertainty. New experiences always come with a mix of emotions. Still, you’ll know that you made the right decision when you start the intake process and realize how many…
There are many terms thrown around in relation to drug abuse, and it can be difficult to discern what they mean. Drug addiction is an already misunderstood disease, and the confusion regarding terminology only adds to the problem. While drug dependence and drug addiction are often related, they do not mean the same thing. Keep reading to learn more about the difference between drug dependence and drug addiction.
What is drug dependence?
Drug dependence involves a physical condition. Repeated exposure to a drug or frequent usage causes the body to adapt to the drug. The easiest way to identify drug dependence is through withdrawal symptoms when the drug is no longer used.
Addiction not only rips apart a life, it does the same thing to the relationships and loved ones held most dear by the addict.
It is a very difficult thing to watch a loved one slip into addiction. Suddenly, someone that you once knew so well has become a completely different person, a person that you can’t trust, a person who seems to fight every helping hand and seek out every harmful situation they can possibly find, a person who pushes away love, a person who pushes away you. You know that this is the addiction working, taking control, but you can’t help but be affected by it. You can’t help feeling hurt, angry, helpless. You can’t help feeling like you want to give up.
And, unfortunately, many people do give up. They try and try until they’ve had enough – enough betrayal, enough rejection, enough hurt. Their addict loved one has hurt them so many times, maybe even betrayed their trust as well, that the need to protect themselves from more hurt and more harm has overtaken the love that they feel for this person who has been changed so drastically by addiction. And they give up. They cut ties, they banish, they forget, they toss aside.
There’s a stigma with addiction – that of the addict passing out in an alley somewhere, unable to move, barely able to function at all. While that image of addiction does come from a real place, there’s a far more prevalent face of addiction out in the world – that of the highly functioning professional. Drug & alcohol addiction knows no bounds. It is not a poor person’s disease, it does not care about race, religion, social status, or career. Addiction affects every tier of society. That fact can be very surprising to people on the fringes of the addiction disease. Below are the career fields that rank highest for addiction among the workforce. You’ll see that addiction really does run the gamut, and permeates some unexpected places.