Substance abuse and
homoeopathy
Substance
abuse is the disorder of 20th century; it’s the new fashion trend amongst the
youth
becoming rampant all across the globe,
crossing socioeconomic boundaries and engulfing the young generation by
stripping them of their innocence and novelty…it’s a major concern as it not
just destroys the health of an individual, but also his life, future, relations
and uproots so many families, it requires accurate medical diagnosis and
treatment along with great will power, positive approach and family support to
come out of this illness, and as this menace begins from mind and affects the
body, the approach to treat should be directed towards a science which focusses
on both
aspects
of a person,
The
WHOLISTIC APPROACH.
The
purpose of this article is to spread awareness regarding this and to focus on
how HOMOEOPATHY can serve to control, treat and eradicate this disorder of body
and mind gently and effectively.
What is substance
abuse medically?
“Use
of one or more substance/substances leading to clinically significant
impairment or distress.”
Initially the habit starts voluntarily,
the person is well aware of the negative consequences of his habit but still he
has not reached the stage of dependence and consequent withdrawal symptoms,
it’s like taking a risk but if not careful it can easily convert into
dependence.
After
a while, the person becomes so dependent on the substance used that he has to
take it compulsively, knowing it causes serious harm and will experience
withdrawal symptoms if cuts down even slightly.
Physical dependence:
Simply
put its need of a substance to function physically.
Psychological dependence:
Need
of a substance to function mentally.
Psychological
dependence does not have to be limited only to substance, even activities and
behavioural patterns can be considered addictive if they become uncontrollable:
E.g.
gambling, internet/computer addiction, pornography/sex addiction, overeating,
compulsive buying, self-injury, work addiction etc.
Who are the
people or personalities more prone to fall for substance abuse?
A lot of times the childhood trauma or bad
early years of a person shape up their future in the wrong direction and it is
at this crucial time the seed of negative habits is easy to find grounds.
Many factors push the person towards substance
abuse or rather cultivate the personality over many years of disappointment,
failure, loneliness, ridicule, shame, fear,
identity crisis, any kind of physical or sexual abuse, violence, lack of
emotional support or instability and still many more such reasons completely
negate the chances of having a physically and mentally healthy grown up. Thus,
it is not wrong to conclude that all these scenarios give rise to a person who
is more prone to use the clutch of substance abuse for support than an average
normal person.
Many times these difficult circumstances are
not the sole reason though, one huge chunk of reasons for this comes down to
peer pressure, social pressure, maintenance of social status or rather avoiding
social stigma in different socio economic classes or backgrounds of people, and
this class of people consist of both teenagers and adults. Many times the kind
of job or business or field that a person belongs to demands from the person to
accept certain ideas which deem fit for them but not to the person in question
and in order to survive in such environment people do give in eventually,
initially against their wishes and not realizing when the habit turns to abuse
and addiction, completely engulfing them.
One
more category of people easily falling for substance abuse is those looking to
enhance their performance or increase their stamina, people working in sports
are easy candidates for various kinds of substance abuse, also those who
require mental creative outputs and insights stray to this route.
Thus
all these kinds of factors shaping up such personalities form breeding ground
for future addicts or people indulging in one or the other kind of substance
abuse, and it is at this level where homoeopathy can work wonders by preventing
such negative traits to develop in full-fledged sickness or treating and
bringing back those who are already part of that dark world to normalcy and
health.
What are the
commonly abused substances?
Lsd/trips/blotters.
Coke/snow/C/rocks/stones.
Meth/crystal/ice.
Marijuana/weed/hash/puff.
MDMA/ecstasy/molly/love
substance/club substance.
What will happen
to a person who is abusing any substances in general?
The
effects of substances can be described in phases, initial phase consists of the
substance induced symptoms, and the person may feel very high energetically,
happy, free from worries and flying, and then the next phase when the effect of
the substance wears off, the person goes into total depression, the type of
response depends on the type of substance used.
Initially;
Alteration
of perception of outside world, it resembles a magical universe, the colours
are deeply intense, objects take bizarre form, gibberish talk etc.
Increased
confidence, increased heart beats.
Sexual
liberation and euphoria.
Obsessive
cleaning.
Relaxed,
happy, laid back, giggling attitude.
Loss
of inhibition, enhancement of music and colours.
Feeling
as if on top of the world.
Once the effect
wears off the person presents with,
Psychological
symptoms, self-injury.
Damage
of nasal passages, lung damage.
Appetite
goes down drastically.
Destruction
of skin tissue, ulcer formation.
Mild
depression to major psychosis, schizophrenia and death.
More
chances for sexually transmitted diseases like HIV infection because of
unprotected sex.
Hallucinations,
paranoia, bizarre psychotic behaviour, rage, mood swings, memory loss.
Convulsions,
collapse, coma and death.
Bronchitis, lung cancer.
Increased blood pressure, nausea, faintness.
Chills, increased body temperature, heart, kidney,
lung problem.
Thus, substance addiction is a complex illness
characterized by intense uncontrollable substance craving with compulsive substance
seeking and use that persists even in the face of developing dangerous
consequences.
Is substance
addiction life threatening or just a bad habit?
Definitely life threatening, it leaves the person
destroyed in all aspects of life, physically, emotionally, health wise, it
causes severe form of diseases like cancer and schizophrenia to psychosis and
death. The person’s entire life revolves around obtaining the substance anyhow
and using it, this tendency often leads them towards criminal activity.
Can substance
addiction be treated? If so, how?
Yes, it can be very well treated and
the recurrence can also be thoroughly checked, a person can renew their life
and get free from the shackles of this monster called “substance addiction”.
The treatment should act on three different levels,
1.
Break the substance cycle, stop the use of substance.
2.
Relief from withdrawal symptom.
3.
Prevention of recurrence.
The treatment must help to stop substances, maintain substance
free normal productive functioning in family, work and society.
TREATMENT:
1.
Medicines to ease the withdrawal symptoms, this phase
requires continued care, medical/ mental health services and community/ family
based recovery support system
2.
Behavioural modification and counselling, individual and
group sessions, changing attitude to engage in the treatment, enhancing
effectiveness of medicines through a number of psychological therapies e.g.
positive re enforcement or cognitive therapy.
3.
Therapeutic communities/ residential treatment (6 to 12
months), this phase mainly focuses on re-socialization to substance and crime
free life.
What homoeopathy
has to offer in substance addiction?
Homoeopathy works on all the three levels of treatment in case of substance
addiction,
It successfully helps in various
levels of de addiction
Management of withdrawal symptoms
Preventing recurrences,
And in doing so it gradually enhances the physical and
mental constitution of the person.
As already discussed in the beginning of this article,
homoeopathy is a complete system of medicine working effectively and gently on
both the psych and soma OR the mind and body of an individual.
The seed of addiction of any kind begins from the mind
of the person then slowly and gradually this poison pervades the entire system
of that person not just harming him in his health but in all aspects of life,
Homoeopathy
helps in restoring the person’s health in a manner that he is free from the
current illness as well as much stronger mentally and physically to ward off
recurrences and lead a healthy comfortable life, it makes the person walk
confidently towards the road to recovery and health.
Why you should
opt for URJAA Homoeopathic Centre?
We at Urjaa HC believe that each and every life
deserves the best form of care and treatment, our practice of homoeopathy is
spear headed by a qualified and much sought after MD doctor, team Urjaa
believes in the comfort and effective treatment for our patients, a pleasant
atmosphere, helpful and attentive staff, complete and in depth case history,
medical and homoeopathic analysis of the case, management and follow up of your
case with regular updation, the best homoeopathic treatment and improvisation
through your valuable feedback; all together we take care of you from day one
that you enter our centre till you walk out healthy and happy.
Our motto is “a happy person
is a healthy person”,
so choose URJAA and give yourself a new hope in life.
Reference : www.drugfree.org
Dr.Rubina Shaikh
Talk to our Experts @ 022 42954400/+91976928173 / homoeopathy@urjaa.in
