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According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, addiction is a “treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment and an individual’s life experiences.” Addiction is a difficult disease to overcome. Addiction is a disease in which people continue to engage in harmful behaviors despite the negative consequences. This is because addiction has changed the brain’s reward system and increases the desire for dangerous substances and chemicals.

Substance abuse addiction is a disease that can affect every part of the brain chemistry, physical health, mental health, behavior, mood, sleep and appetite. Overcoming an addiction is not easy. Behavioral health programs such as outpatient substance use disorder treatment can help people address their addiction and develop healthy coping mechanisms to overcome this disease. Two of the most popular outpatient treatments are partial hospitalization programs (PHP) and intensive outpatient programs (IOP). Both PHP and IOP are levels of care in the continuum of addiction treatment services recognized by the American Society of Addiction Medicine Criteria (ASAM).

Psychedelic and hallucinogenic drugs are increasingly popular for recreational use. Some popular ones include magic mushrooms and DMT. N, N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a strong psychedelic chemical compound naturally occurring in some animals and plants. It has a similar chemical structure to magic mushrooms and is known to produce intense short-term visual hallucinations. DMT is also the main psychoactive ingredient in the controversial practice of ingesting Ayahuasca.

Like food and drinks, medications also have an expiration date. In 1973, the FDA began requiring all manufacturers of medication to provide an expiration of the expected shelf life date. In general, medications have two different expiration dates. The first expiration date is set by the drug maker, which is about 2-3 years from the date of manufacture. The second date is one set by pharmaceuticals, which is one year from which the medication has been prescribed to the patient. Pharmacists are usually limited to the expiration of one year because of the unpredictable storage conditions in which a person will store their medications. In addition, patients should also be re-evaluated for their condition after a year.

Synthetic opioids are the most common drugs involved in drug overdose deaths in the United States. Fentanyl is a prescription drug used to treat chronic pain, severe cancer pain, nerve damage, back injury pain, and any type of major trauma surgery pain. It is about 50-100 times more potent than morphine and is considered the strongest opioid substance with a high risk of dependence, tolerance, addiction and overdose.

SMART Recovery is just one of many peer-led support groups available for those who are struggling with a substance addiction. SMART is an evidenced-informed recovery method whose goal is to recognize self-empowerment when it comes to recovery from substance and alcohol addiction. It helps people learn to change maladaptive behaviors through scientific research, which is constantly evolving and changing as new research and studies are discovered and adapted into the program.

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, about 15 million American adults have an alcohol use disorder (AUD). About 20% of Americans with an alcohol use disorder are also high-functioning alcoholics. Functioning alcoholism is not an official medical diagnosis. It is an informal term used to describe a person suffering from alcohol abuse and dependency but is still able to function in their daily life. Functioning alcoholics may drink too much and may drink too often, but they keep up an appearance of being under control without any noticeable negative impact on everyday life.

Cocaine is an additive stimulant substance that is derived from the cocoa plant and affects the brain’s dopamine system by stimulating the varying types of stimuli such as sex, food and drugs. The drug works by blocking the dopamine transporter protein, which leads to increased dopamine levels in the brain where the “feel good” sensation is amplified.

Alcoholism and alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a difficult mental health condition to overcome. It can impact the body physically and mentally with lasting damage. It is a chronic and progressive brain disorder in which users misuse alcohol in an attempt to aid in temporary relief from unpleasant feelings. For some who have had severe cases of alcohol use disorder or have been abusing alcohol for a very long time, changing old habits and developing new healthy ones can be difficult. Sometimes, people can develop symptoms of dry drunk.

Opioids have been at the forefront of the overdose drug crisis for the last few decades. It has become a public health epidemic in which prescription opioids as well as illicit opioids have led to more overdose and deaths than any other disease in recent history. Heroin, an illicit opioid drug, is one of the most addictive substances. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in 2021, an estimated 1 million Americans aged 12 or older reported having a heroin use disorder in the last year. In the same year, about 9,173 Americans aged 12 or older reportedly died from a heroin overdose.