Common Myths About Substance Abuse
There are a lot of myths that get circulated around regarding substance abuse. These myths often perpetuate unfair and destructive beliefs about people who live in active addiction and those who are in recovery. When society can get rid of the stigma and shame surrounding addiction, people can move forward to live happy and healthy lives in recovery.
Drug Use is Voluntary
Some people believe that those who engage in drug abuse are acting strictly from choice. The truth of the matter is a bit more complicated. While it is true that people who first start using drugs often do so out of choice-over time that is not the case. As people continue to use drugs, they will rewire an individual's brain and render him or her unable to make the choice whether to use or not.
That said, people who live in active addiction will do whatever it takes to satisfy their need for the drug. This is known as the disease model of addiction. Specifically, drug addiction is a chronic disease that does not have a cure. People who have an addiction will need to work the rest of their lives in order to live in freedom.
Drug Addiction Only Impacts Poor People
Everybody can face a drug addiction, not just the poor. However, drug addiction often takes people who are wealthy or well off and makes them poor. This happens because people who are otherwise in good shape financially will start to take risks in order to obtain their drugs. These risks could impact their financial standing and lead them down the road toward poverty.
However, it's important to remember that anybody can find themselves facing addiction. It doesn't discriminate. Addiction happens do to a confluence of factors, but the bottom line is that it can happen to anyone.
Only People Who Want Treatment Will Receive Effective Treatment
It's rare to find people who actually want treatment. People generally seek out treatment because they were ordered to by the court or their family member begged them to get help. However, no matter the reason why someone goes in, people who enter a drug treatment facility have a great chance of getting the help they need and setting on the path of recovery.
Also, once in a drug treatment facility, people who otherwise wouldn't want treatment might come around to the idea when they see how it can benefit their lives.
Drug Addiction is a Character Flaw
This is one of the most persistent and damaging myths that surrounds drug addiction. It is simply not true that people who have an addiction possess some sort of character flaw. Drug addiction is a brain disease. It is something that rewires the way a person thinks and it doesn't discriminate-it impacts anyone. One of the main ingredients of developing an addiction is trauma and trauma doesn't necessarily happen to bad people. People's behavior might change in reaction to their brain's changing due to addiction, but that does that make them bad people, just sick with addiction.
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