Questions & Answers

What is drug and alcohol addiction?
What are the signs of addiction?
How can addiction affect a person’s health?
Are addiction and mental illness related?
How can addiction affect the family?
How does parental substance abuse affect children?
How does addiction affect the workplace?
How is addiction related to the incidence of crime?
Can treatment help drug and alcohol abusers recover from addiction?

What is drug and alcohol addiction?

Addiction is a disease, involving the progressive habitual use of drugs and/or alcohol in spite of physical, social, occupational, and/or financial consequences.

What are the signs of addiction?

Every day, millions of people in the United States suffer from drug and alcohol addiction. In fact, an estimated 22 million Americans are classified with substance dependence or abuse. In Georgia alone, the number of people needing substance abuse treatment is estimated to be nearly 730,000 adults and 40,000 adolescents. Furthermore, approximately 222,000 adults and 10,500 adolescents in metropolitan Atlanta are in need of addiction treatment

Common signs of addiction include:

Increased Tolerance - continually increasing the amount of drugs and/or alcohol to achieve the desired effect.
Withdrawal Symptoms - experiencing physical, psychological, and behavioral changes when use of substances is discontinued.
Increased Consumption - consuming larger amounts of substances over a longer period of time.
Desire to Change - having a persistent desire to control the use of drug and alcohol consumption.
Lack of Control - being unsuccessful at cutting back on drug and alcohol use.
Altered lifestyle - spending large amounts of time in activities to obtain, use, or recover from substance abuse and, as a result, giving up or reducing important social, occupational, or recreational activities.
Habitual Use Despite Health Concerns - continuing to use drugs and/or alcohol even though there is a persistent or recurring physical or psychological problem caused by substance abuse.

How can addiction affect a person’s health?

Drug and alcohol abuse can destroy a person’s health. In fact, substance abuse causes more deaths, illnesses, and disabilities than any other preventable health condition today. Physical and psychological complications resulting from addiction are numerous and include the following:

Irritability
Mood disturbances
Paranoia and hallucinations
Impaired memory and learning
Reduced appetite
Nausea
High blood pressure
Disturbances in heart rhythm
Chest pain
Heart failure
Respiratory failure
Strokes
Seizures

Are addiction and mental illness related?

Addiction and mental illness are closely related. It is estimated that of adults with substance dependence or abuse, 20.4% also have a serious mental illness. Moreover, adults who use illicit drugs are more than twice as likely to have a serious mental illness than adults who did not use illicit drugs.

How can addiction affect the family?

Addicts do not suffer alone. For every addict, there are family members and friends who must cope with the emotional, physical, and spiritual hardships caused by his/her addiction. Approximately one out of every four Americans experience family problems related to alcohol abuse.

The painful effects substance abuse can have on family members and friends are commonly referred to as Co-Dependency. Common signs and symptoms of Co-Dependency include anxiety, increased sense of responsibility, guilt, anger, insecurity, low self-esteem, over-commitment, stress, and feelings of being used and unappreciated.

How does parental substance abuse affect children?

The saddest victims of substance abuse are often the children. Current research indicates that 8.3 million children in the United States, approximately 11 percent, live with at least one parent who is in need of treatment for alcohol or drug dependence.

The affects of parental substance abuse are numerous and include emotional distress, isolation, depression, low self-esteem, truancy, delayed psychosocial development, and poor grades. Children living with an addicted parent are also at risk of developing addictions of their own. In fact, children of alcohol-abusing parents are four times more likely than other children of becoming alcoholics themselves, and children of drug-abusing parents are the highest risk group for developing drug addictions.

Another serious effect of parental addiction is child abuse and neglect. Children of a substance-abusing parent are three times more likely to be verbally, physically, or sexually abused and are four times more likely to be neglected. Therefore, addiction can be indirectly detrimental to the health and welfare of the child.

How does addiction affect the workplace?

Substance abuse is a major issue for American business and labor. Substance-abusing employees are:

10 times more likely to miss work
3.6 times more likely to be involved in on-the-job accidents
5 times more likely to injure themselves or someone else
Generally less productive
Likely to exhibit or develop poor working habits
Likely to reduce morale among other workers
Likely to increase turnover rates

As a result, the cost of drug and alcohol addiction to American businesses is dramatic. It is estimated that substance abuse costs the workplace more than $100 billion per year. Moreover, addicted employees are more likely to file worker’s compensation claims, use up more benefits, and have medical expenses that are 300% higher than average.

How is addiction related to the incidence of crime?

Drug and alcohol addiction greatly increases the incidence of crime. A recent study found that at least half of adults arrested for major crimes, including homicide, theft, and assault, tested positive for drugs at the time of their arrest. The report also found that among those convicted of violent crimes, approximately 50% of state prison inmates and 40% of federal prisoners had been drinking or taking drugs at the time of their offense.

Can treatment help drug and alcohol abusers recover from addiction?

The good news for persons struggling with drug and alcohol addiction is that treatment works. It is reported that substance abuse treatment cuts drug use in half and reduces criminal activity up to 80%. Moreover, treatment of addiction has a much higher success rate than treatment for other types of chronic illness, such as diabetes, emphysema, or high blood pressure.

The benefits of treatment include:

Reduced substance abuse
Decreased criminal activity
Increased employment
Improved physical and mental health
Reduced family problems
Reduced incidences of child abuse and neglect
Decreased homelessness and dependence on public assistance