Learning to Live Life, LLC

Learning to Live Life, LLC

Counseling 4 Change

Addiction

The Road to Addiction

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How Addiction Begins

Experimentation Leads to Addiction

effects of substance abuse

This is a stage that many people find themselves in early on as teens or young adults. It could include underage drinking, abusing over-the-counter drugs, stealing prescription pills from relatives or experimenting with illicit drugs. For many, usage stops there. For others, it’s the beginning of a long struggle. According to research by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA), 90 percent of all adults with substance use disorders began using before age 18.

Regular Use Becomes Addiction

At this stage, the user has begun a pattern of use and abuse, which may lead to some risky behavior like binge drinking and driving under the influence (DUI). This is the beginning of a user becoming preoccupied with drugs and/or alcohol.

Learning to Live Life offers professional counseling and therapy services for alcohol and drug addiction in the East Hartford, CT area and at our satellite location at Ashton Paige Establishment for Women, Inc.

Please Contact Us for more information.

The Effects of Drugs of Abuse on the Brain

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The Effects of Drugs of Abuse on the Brain

Most drugs of abuse target the brain’s reward system, whether directly or indirectly. These substances flood the reward system with dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain that regulates movement, emotion, motivation and feelings of pleasure. Dopamine is naturally activated during exercise, when a person smells good food, during sexual activities and other pleasurable events.

drug abuser's bain

How Drugs and Alcohol Interact with Dopamine

When dopamine is artificially overstimulated through drug and alcohol abuse, it produces euphoric effects. These strongly reinforce the behavior of abuse, and make the user more inclined to use again.

dopamine affect on the brain

HEART

It alters he brain stem’s neuro-chemical activity that regulates breathing and beating of the heart illustration of a human brain to show how drugs and alcohol interact with Dopamine.

affects of alcohol on the heart

LIMBIC SYSTEM

Modified the limbic system’s controls over the emotions and feelings illustration of a human spinal cord to show how drugs and alcohol interact with Dopamine.

affect of alcohol and drugs on the limbic systemSPINAL CORD

Hinders pain signals generated by the spinal cord.

Learning to Live Life offers professional counseling and therapy services for alcohol and drug addiction in the East Hartford, CT area and at our satellite location at Ashton Paige Establishment for Women, Inc. If you or a loved one are suffering from addiction, Contact Us for more information.

 

Addiction: Medical Disease? No Kidding!

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Addiction a Medical Disease? YES.

Drug use, be it alcohol, cannabis, heroin etc has been forever present within our communities. As we watched our neighborhoods change and evolve, we saw it change into something that too was a common, an everyday occurrence.  The initial decision to use and abuse drugs or alcohol begins with a conscious thought probably fueled with emotion. Somewhere between the first exposure and the onset of addiction, the user loses control over his/her ability to limit, reduce or to stop using.  It’s tough, you don’t know who’s next to live and to die!

Recovery from addiction, is about a choice.  The choice is about a commitment to self-care.  For the first time, and it has been a long time coming, that addiction is identified as a “chronic illness,” and this growing opioid epidemic is of concern to our communities.  According to J. Craig Allen, M.D., Medical Director at Rushford, “Addiction is a disease of the brain. It’s a chronic disease and should be treated like other chronic diseases.”(See video).  In 2016, the United States Attorney General provided their first report ever to which focuses on alcohol and drugs.

Many are comparing this groundbreaking report, to one 50 yo ago that laid out the dangers associated with cigarettes. The opioid public health crisis in the United States impacts people throughout the nation.  The providers and peers working in clinics, hospitals, and health centers are faced with faced with the challenge of helping individuals with opioid use & mental health disorders that identify effective behavioral treatment and appropriate, and supportive services that foster long-term recovery.

See video: Dr. J. Allen. Landmark report calls substance abuse a “chronic disorder” November 17,2016, http://wtnh.com/2016/11/17/surgeon-general-report-addiction-is-not-a-character-flaw/

 

Learning to Live Life offers professional counseling and therapy services for alcohol and drug addiction in the East Hartford, CT area and at our satellite location at Ashton Paige Establishment for Women, Inc.

Please Contact Us for more information.