Anyone can become addicted if the conditions are right. Although some folks think that people that do get addicted to a particular substance are weak or morally deficient in some way. But that isn’t actually the case. In fact, it’s much more helpful for the person suffering an addiction, and their families to see it as a genuine illness, one that is tough to fight but can be cured. To find out more about addiction and how to overcome it keep reading.
Cold Turkey
Cold turkey is the term used when you stop using whatever substance you have been addicted to completely. Without reducing the dose or using another substance to take the edge off of things.
Can it work? Absolutely, if you have the willpower and motivation to get through what will be a very uncomfortable time. Is, is the best option for you? Well, this is a more complicated question. Maybe you are sick of smoking cigarettes and just want them out of your life? Then yes cold turkey is great, but there are other substances such as alcohol that can be very dangerous to stop using completely, all at once.
Also, consider that the most important thing about quitting is giving you the best chance of long term success, and sometimes cold turkey isn’t the best way of doing this.
Addiction is an illness. There are ways to come out the other side and start anew. Pexels, CC0 License.
Replacement Methods
Also, consider the replacement method of giving up an addiction. These can work in two ways, firstly it can help the person that is addicted take the edge off the suffering they are experiencing without their favored substance.
Secondly, it is postulated that many people become addicts because they have an addictive personality. Meaning it’s not necessary the substance that they are truly addicted too but the act of doing something to deal with their emotional state. This means they can replace a harmful addiction with a less harmful one. While this doesn’t stop them having an addiction, it does improve their health because they are doing less injury to their body and those around them.
This can work with things like swapping from tobacco smoking to vaping, something you can read more about on Vapor Vanity and other sites like them. It has even been tried on harder substances such a heroin, where the patient replaces that addiction with methadone.
Cutting Down
Another way of dealing with an addiction is to slowly reduce the dosage and wean yourself off. This can work well for many forms of addiction, as it’s a more agent process. However, it also takes longer for the substance to be completely out of your system. Something that can cause other problems. For an alcohol addiction, professional help with inpatient or outpatient rehab may be the optimal route.
Cutting down means that you are repeatedly being exposed to the thing that you are trying to give up, which can make it tougher in the beginning without professional assistance. Although for many people the freedom to continue with their addition can perversely help them to become freer from it. As while they are not being denied it, they can achieve the clarity to realize they don’t actually need it in their lives.
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