The Natural Medicine Guide to Addiction

The greatest risk factor for abuse of prescription drugs is an existing alcohol or drug problem.

Habitual use of cocaine and amphetamines, for example, can interfere with production of the neurotransmitters that inhibit irritability and other heightened reactivity, leading to excessive anxiety.64

Withdrawal is not necessarily over after conventional detoxification is complete. Post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS), which can include the mood disturbances above as well as insomnia, listlessness, malaise, and/or headaches, can occur as long as a year and a half after “detoxification.”

While people may start using a substance or activity to feel good, addiction progresses to the point that they must use to keep from feeling bad.

valuable a contribution as Twelve-Step programs (Alcoholics Anonymous and others) make in providing peer support and a structure for addiction recovery, a research review of comparative studies of standard treatment approaches, including AA, revealed that there is “little or no evidence of effectiveness.”14 Two studies in the review showed that alcoholics “did no better or actually suffered more relapse” with AA than those who got other or no treatment.15

percent of the deaths among people treated for chemical dependency are suicides.

50 to 90 percent of alcoholics and drug addicts relapse (the percentage varies with the statistical source)

Addiction is part of a triumvirate of mental health epidemics currently afflicting the world, with anxiety and depression being the other two.