Ever since, the problem of cocaine addiction has always been present. It can affect every level of the society. It can be a main variable to broke down one’s family. Wariness should always be present. This type of addiction usually begins from simple things leading to big and complicated problems.
The origins of cocaine can be traced from the coca plant. Cocaine can be used in many different ways. It can be snorted for its effects to be felt quicker. It can also be injected to the body by letting it melt first in the water. The use of cocaine produces feelings of euphoria. People keep on using this kind of substance for repetition of this kind of experience.
There are indications when one can say that a person is cocaine addicted. These clues can be seen via intoxication symptoms and withdrawal symptoms. Examples of withdrawal symptoms are dysphoria, being restless, horrid kind of dreams, hypersomnia or insomnia, overeating, and a very high level of anxiety. On the other hand, convulsions, pains in the upper body, difficulty of breathing, muscle weakness, losing of weight, and behavioral changes are examples of intoxication symptoms.
The very apparent change in behavior is the thing that is most noticed when one gets tangled to an addictive substance. These behavioral changes can include the following: changes in the way one interacts with people, hypervigilance, super sensitivity, too much anxiety, and easiness to get angry. As a way to describe these symptoms in a few words, it’s really a damaged way of thinking.
Mental illness can always be a result once the behavioral changes of using drugs starts to happen. There is a term called dual diagnosis which refers to the co-occurance of substance addiction and mental illness. There are certain types of substances that can lead to a mental disorder as explained by the causality theory of dual diagnosis. The effect of the substance is the reason why such things can occur. Example of this is the substance cocaine.
This co-occurrence of a substance abuse problem and mental illness leads to the problem of how to treat an individual suffering this kind of situation. When one has substance abuse dilemmas, he or she is most of the time advised to be put in a center to recover. When one also has mental illness, there are centers that cater to their special needs. However, there are actually no centers that specialize in the treatment of a co-occurrence of a mental disorder and a substance abuse problem. Specialists of in treating substance abuse problems have little or no idea in treating a person with mental disorder and vice versa.
Dual diagnosis is quite new in the field of psychology that treatment for this situation only exists by standards. The way in treating substance abuse problems and the way in treating the problem of mental illness should be joined together. The kind of treatment should not be taken apart from each other but like the disease, should co-exist.
Cocaine addiction and mental illness’ symptoms can overlap each other leaving it hard for dual diagnosis to treat easily. The problem of denial can also come in. In most cases, a cocaine addict would not admit that he or she is into drugs. The specialist would then assume that the individual only has a mental illness when in fact, the mental illness is due to his or her use of the drugs. The wanting of help should first start with the acceptance of substance abuse. The denial problem would be solved which makes the way to recovery to be on the way.
Cocaine addiction has a very high chance of developing into dual diagnosis, one should always be careful.