Addiction
Basics
Basics
This term describes the abuse of mood-altering drugs that can interfere with or have a negative impact on a person's life.
What is Drug Abuse?
These are feelings, experiences, people, places, and things that a person associates with use that can lead to a craving.
What are Triggers?
The process or journey of living without drugs or alcohol.
What is Sobriety?
This stimulant drug is commonly found in coffee and energy drinks.
What is Caffeine?
BONUS: Name a Withdrawal Symptom.
Muscle Pain
Excessive hunger, fatigue or lethargy, loss of appetite, night sweats, restlessness, shakiness, clammy skin, craving, feeling cold, or sweating
Gagging, nausea, vomiting, flatulence, or stomach cramps
Agitation, crying, excitability, irritability, or self-harm
Delirium, depression, hallucination, paranoia, or severe anxiety
Insomnia, nightmares, sleepiness, or sleeping difficulty
Disorientation, mental confusion, racing thoughts, or slowness in activity
Boredom, feeling detached from self, loss of interest or pleasure in activities, or nervousness
Congestion or runny nose
Dilated pupil or watery eyes
Seizures, sensitivity to pain, slurred speech, teeth chattering, tingling feet, trembling, tremor, or weakness
This term describes the compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance despite harmful consequences.
What is Addiction or Dependence?
A strong urge or desire to use a substance, often triggers by internal or external cues.
What is a Craving?
The return to substance use after a period of abstinence/sobriety.
What is Relapse?
Alcohol is classified under this category of substances due to its slowing effect on the brain.
What are depressants?
BONUS: Name a Neurotransmitter.
Dopamine, Serotonin, Norepinephrine, Histamine, Epinephrine, GABA, Glycine, Glutamate, etc.
This is the name of the process in which the same amount of a substance no longer causes the same reaction; more of the substance is required to get the same effects as before.
What is Tolerance?
Triggers that are related to the senses of sight, taste, sound, and touch.
What are Sensory Triggers?
Skills that can be used when faced with triggers.
What are Coping Skills?
These are drugs that energize the nervous system by making the nerves act quicker than normal.
What are Stimulants?
BONUS: Name a Coping Skill you can use when faced with a trigger or craving.
Diversions, Building New Habits or Relationships, Prevention, Healthy Lifestyle, Managing Emotions/Relaxation.
Feelings, experiences, and physical reactions that occur when people cut down or stop using their drug of choice.
What are Withdrawal Symptoms?
Triggers that are people, places, and things that are associated with substance use.
What are External Triggers?
Precontemplation, Contemplation, Preparation, Action, and Maintenance describe the 5 stages of this process.
What is Recovery?
These drugs primarily affect the user’s thinking and senses, changing the way they understand and experience the world around them; sometimes leading to paranoia, delusions, and hallucinations.
What are Psychedelics and Hallucinogenic Drugs?
BONUS: Name a Stimulant.
Caffeine, Cocaine, Amphetamines, Diet Pills, Nicotine, Ecstasy, etc.
Naturally occurring chemicals in the brain that carry messages between special cells called neurons; they have an effect on thinking, feelings, and behavior.
What are Neurotransmitters?
Triggers that show up as feelings or emotional states that people have before or during substance use.
What are Internal Triggers?
The acronym “HALT” stands for these 4 high-risk relapse states/situations, and is a common tool in recovery.
What are Hungry, Angry, Lonely, and Tired?
This part of the body is strongly affected by substance use, leading to changes in function and effects on emotions, thoughts, and behavior.
What is the Brain?
Sobriety = Physical act of abstaining from drugs or alcohol
Recovery = Deeper, ongoing process that involves addressing the underlying causes of addiction, learning healthy coping skills, and building a meaningful, substance-free life