Drug and Alcohol Addictions in Australia

Drug and Alcohol Addictions in Australia 

by Maria Pau 

Coaching With Substance is Australia's No. 1 provider of Recovery Coaching Services for ALL Addictions.

At any given time, ten percent of the drinkers in Australia will become alcoholics, those addicted to the drug of alcohol (Johnson Institute 1980).

It is estimated that seven out of ten people in Australia are in some way affected by addiction. Children of alcoholic parents are conservatively

estimated at two million people. The significant characteristics of the diseases of alcoholism or chemical addiction are that it is primary (one of

the most serious types of disorders a person can have), progressive (it gets worse over time), chronic (it doesn't go away by itself) and fatal (it leads to death).

There are four stages from alcohol and drug use to alcohol and drug

Dependence:

1. The Initial drug experience (pre-symptomatic phase) - may be experimental, socially motivated and provide relief from tension. A person learns that the use of the substance can change a mood and through experience develops a relationship with the substance.

2. The Onset phase comes when the drug use switches from recreational to medicinal with a beginning preoccupation with a drug of choice. The individual seeks a mood shift. This stage may be accompanied by "blackouts," or periods of time where the addict has no memory of what they said or did.

3. The next phase, Harmful Dependence, is characterised by excessive use and loss of control when engaged in the use of drugs or alcohol. It is accompanied by a progressive deterioration of self-image, acute phases of self-destructive behaviour, and distorted emotional and psychological attitudes.

4. In the Chronic phase that follows, a person needs to use just to feel normal. Because the illness is progressive, this phase often results in death. Addictions have been subject to multiple understandings over the last hundred years, moving from being seen as a moral failure to being diagnosed as a disease to pharmacologically mediated brain dysfunctions (Gray 1999). 

Research

The National Institute on Drug Abuse recently cited between fifty and seventy risk factors for drug abuse that are found in the addict's community, that is, within the individual's peer cluster, within the

individual's family and within the individual. 

The largest risk factor for drug abuse is an untreated childhood mental disorder  (Gray 1999) (including PTSD). Two other major reasons people take drugs are  to awaken a "feel good" sensation (sensation-seeking) or to feel better (self-medication) (Lesher 1999).

Years of brain studies on addiction by the National Institute on Drug Abuse suggest a common and worrisome biological thread to all addictions: Drug use changes the brain. "Most recently the action of all drugs of abuse has been traced to the action of dopaminergic neurons in the mid-brain" (Gray

1999). Recent knowledge that many areas of the brain other than the base are affected by drug use has caused researchers to explore those other areas and has also inspired new behavioural studies to determine why those areas of the brain might be triggered (Schultz, Dayan, Peter, Montague and Read

1997).

In addition to the interpersonal and interpersonal costs of addiction, there is a high burden financially on addicts as well as on society. As of 2005, the cost of substance abuse to society in Australia was about 15 billion dollars, and the cost of drug abuse and addiction itself was about 7 billion dollars.

These costs include lost productivity, crime leading to incarceration, and mental illness. Actually, it is cheaper to treat addiction than to let it go. The cost to public support systems, productivity in the workplace, and family cohesion from addiction is such that it tears at the infrastructure of society itself. It is one of the most serious health problems in Australia today.

If you or someone you love is in the grips of ADDICTION call the professionals today for immediate help.

Call us 07 5606 6315 (7days) Confidentiality assured.

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