The affects of Illegal drugs on the Academic, Personal and Social Lives of Students/Young Adults.
Introduction:
We’ll start it up
by first looking at what illegal Drugs are and how different people have
defined them scientifically and non-scientifically, later we’ll try to come up
with our own definition that comes out of our own understanding and experience,
our apologies to be accepted for we’ll be covering only two types of drugs;
mainly Cannabis (in casual language,
known as Chars and it has many more names), and Alcohol.
Why we have chosen CANNABIS and ALCOHOL only? because we have personally seen many people using
them and people whom we have close ties with, now with due respect and
apologies to our seniors and teachers we are mentioning the fact that we
ourselves have experienced the adverse affects of these drugs, and because we
have a clear understanding and personal experiences of what these drugs are
capable of, we think we can better explain their adverse affects. That’s the
reason behind selecting; Cannabis
and Alcohol as our theme of
research.
Our purpose of
selecting and working on this topic is to bring the hidden problems CANNABIS AND
ALCOHOL comes along with, to bring some hidden facts into attention of our
fellow students, the coming generations and other people outside our
fellowships either at the academic level or in general, because we've realized
and have seen the undesirable dangerous affects these drugs brings in different
area of its user’s life, some areas that
are already well known, just to name them: educational area, inside the families
and Social life, but keeping aside the academics, family and social life,
there’s a much bigger and ignored portion, the ugly truth the biggest fact of
all that we want to emphasize on and spread awareness of is that these drugs
destroy the natural God gifted rhythm and flow of life, Yes these drugs
snatches from you your peace of mind, your capability to think normally and act
as you were designed to, and this happens because these drugs slowly and
gradually cause you psychological illnesses and there are many who later in
their lives suffer and lose their sanity, end up in mental health hospitals.
scientifically these drugs interfere with the
neurotransmitters in the brain namely: Serotonin and dopamine, people with a
background in the subject biology can have better understanding of this
phenomena, but to put it in easy and simple words for everybody, dopamine and
serotonin are said to be neurotransmitters that are present in the frontal lobe
of the brain and their work in simplest words is to maintain sanity (the
opposite of sane is insanity, in psychiatric terms Psychosis and in everyday
language we call it mental illness) Now Cannabis is Said to affect the
serotonin and dopamine levels both at the same time, and we believe that each
puff of Cannabis takes a person one step away from his/her original mental and
physical shape gifted by God, Same case goes with the Alcohol, which is widely
considered to be an Anti depressant, makes its user feel high on life, but
that’s only for a short span of time, it is actually a depressant and if taken
on regular basis, affects the chemical activity in the brain, likewise CANNABIS
and as far as we've seen through our own eyes, in our friends lives and in our
own personal lives, Both of these drugs leaves a person astray. It’s a sad fact
that an unknown number of people in the whole wide world use cannabis and
Alcohol, and on this Globe when we talk only about our own city and our small
group of university fellows, we see that 65 percent of every 100 students
(Rough Idea) or adults are into using CANNABIS and ALCOHOL. We suggest what has
already been suggested “precaution is better than cure”.
Later In this study
we’ll be offering some solutions that have proven to be helpful, again in our
experience, and we’ll be explaining the Long and Short Term Affects these Drugs
have on its user and his/her ACADEMIC, PERSONAL and SOCIAL life.
Objectives:
·
Our
first Objective of this study is to notify how the use of CANNABIS and ALCOHOL
can become dangerous for its user’s personal, social life and Academic Career.
·
Our
second objective is actually our main objective, because it sums up our reason
of this research study. It is to explain how CANNABIS and ALCOHOL interferes in
the User’s brain Activity and how the use of these drugs can cause
psychological disorders.
·
Our
third objective is to provide solutions and helpful techniques to help quit or
in resistance to CANNABIS and ALCOHOL and help students/adults to get back to
normalcy.
·
Our
Fourth Objective is a little deeper as it provides support to the Long Term
users who feel to be affected mentally and feel ashamed of seeking mental
support. We’ll be providing some natural remedies and advises that would help
in literal means to cope in a perfect way to deal with the problem.
Methodology:
Our Methodology is
going to be very simple; it’ll be a set of questions (in sociological terms a
Quantitative, Questionnaire as tool of data collection) that we’ll have on
papers in which the identity of the data providers will be kept hidden, and
will be used just for our more detailed findings and to add more experiences to
our study, this methodology will help us get information easily and will make
the students feel safe about their prestige.
Area of
Study:
Our area of study,
to be precise, is going to be the students living in the hostels. And to go
further we’ll be looking for information outside the university, in our own
contacts in Peshawar city.
Limitations:
The Study is
limited to two drugs mainly CANNABIS and ALCOHOL. We are not going to cover all
the illegal drugs in our study because we see these two drugs widely used both
in our living areas, in communities and especially in hostels.
Time
Duration:
The time duration
for this study provided by the officials was 2 months. But in other sense this
study in our brains and lives got started long ago.
Significance
of the Study:
This Study holds a great deal of significance
as it is written in a form of counseling for those who have been affected and
for those who are unaware about the side effects these drugs carry along with
them. So At first it’ll be a stop point for many who’ll get to read it, and
secondly it’ll be a jump point for those who have been trapped in the
artificial aura of CANNABIS and ALCOHOL.
Literature Review
History of Drug Abuse:
Now they were getting clean water but they
realized that this new liquid (Beer) wasn't nice, because they were getting
addicted to it and it use to make them feel high all the time. And so as a
result the world got stuck in alcohol addiction, and they saw that even after
drinking the so called clean water people were dying more quickly, now this
turned out to be another problem.
Now while one part of the world was stuck with
Alcohol addiction the other part of the world (Indians, Egyptians and more)
were happy with flowers, oceans, and rivers of clean water, using plants and
their leafs first as clothes later as remedies, for little wounds, and small
cuts over their bodies, and headaches and one day they found a cure for a
crying baby at night, and this would make you laugh out loud because it was the
flower of CANNABIS what they use to do was when at night their babies their
young ones use to wake up and cry, they used those flowers of cannabis to make
their babies feel good and go back to sleep again.
So This is how these Two Drugs were found and we
can guess and we can find information in the world history as well about how
these and other drugs took rise in the civilizations but to be precise we’ll
now come back to our topic and explain “WHY CANNABIS IS MORE FREQUENTLY USED IN THE SOCIETY WE
LIVE IN KPK” Ease of access is the answer, in Peshawar back in 2000
and early years, Alcohol use to be available easily but later its sale was
stopped in KPK. Despite the fact that both of the drugs are still available but
carrying Cannabis through to your place from the buyer is easier than Carrying
a Bottle of Alcohol. That’s one of the reason students/adults are more into
smoking Marijuana/Cannabis/Hashish/Chars rather than Alcohol. Whereas In Punjab
and Sindh Side we get to see that people use more of ALCOHOL rather than
CANNABIS and the same is the reason; because in Punjab and Sindh side people
with permit are allowed to buy and carry ALCOHOL.
Now that we know where these drugs came from and
where these drugs are easily found we have come to a question that Why are
people got into Using CANNABIS and ALCOHOL, what can be thought to be the
reasons behind it? And the answer includes a lot of reasons that we may know,
or we may not, because everybody has his/her own personal reasons and as its
use and its users both are considered and viewed as bad in society, so keeping
this fact in mind, it can be concluded that many reasons are still unknown but
for now to make it simple and understandable to some extent we’re going to
explain with the help of
THREE MAIN STARTING POINTS OF DRUG ABUSE IN A PERSON’S LIFE:
·
Peer Pressure.
·
Emotional distress.
(Weak Personality)
·
Adventurous
Personality.
Now that we have three factors, we are now going
to dig into the types of Drugs and as we mentioned earlier the reasons in the
introduction Section, with due apologies that we’ll be covering only two
TYPES OF DRUGS WHICH ARE:
·
Cannabis
(Hashish/Chars)
·
Alcohol.
We've created pictures to better explain the
adverse short and long term effects these drugs have on its user, and to take
as less time of the reader as we can and at the same get our point across.
We’ll first discuss the REASONS/FACTORS behind drug abuse and later we’ll
explain in detail our objectives
The picture explain the phenomena biologically,
and having said that if biologically a person is weak, He/she would be most
probably be weak at all other aspects, to name them, social, family life and
other Academics, Because Biological changes that are not as they are suppose to
be can only be harmful, and cannot benefit in any long term way, we are not
saying here that these drugs doesn't offer temporary relief, but what we are
trying to tell here is that these drugs
after usage of specific time frame turns into addiction and interfere with the
chemical activity in the brain, Secondly these drugs interfere with almost
every part of the human body and creates disturbances in the natural system.
After explaining a little bit about these drugs
we’ll slowly take the reader into explaining how a new user can avoid certain
harmful drugs specially CANNABIS and ALCOHOL. That also comes as part of our
objectives of this study. Now let’s take
a look at the factors and reasons behind the beginnings of drug abuse in a
person’s life, we’re now going to look at the factors and we want the reader to
sit back relax and try to identify what causes him/her into using these drugs,
so that you can figure out the reasons and then helping yourself into getting
out of the addiction.
(a) Peer Pressure:
(b) Emotional Distress
and Weak Personalities):
(c) Easy Access And
Adventurous personalities:
The above mentioned are some of the reasons
behind drug addiction and abuse, now we’ll take one step ahead and look at what
these drugs are made of, what are their biological properties in order to
understand what chemicals they contain that interacts with the chemicals and
neurotransmitters naturally present in our bodies. Alight so let’s just take a
look at what explanations we have on the World Wide Web about CANNABIS and
ALCOHOL.
CANNABIS and Mental Health:
(Note: In order to authenticate our study and to back it up with as much substantiated data as possible, we searched in and made use of newspapers, books, magazines and the internet. The following information has been drawn from these sources (http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/) with the sole purpose of gaining knowledge for the study from every perspective possible and to make it more helpful.)
There is growing
evidence that people with serious mental illness, including depression and
psychosis, are more likely to use cannabis or have used it for long periods of
time in the past. Regular use of the
drug has appeared to double the risk of developing a psychotic episode or
long-term schizophrenia. However, does cannabis cause depression and
schizophrenia or do people with these disorders use it as a medication?
Over the past few
years, research has strongly suggested that there is a clear link between early
cannabis use and later mental health problems in those with a genetic
vulnerability - and that there is a particular issue with the use of cannabis
by adolescents.
Depression
A study following 1600
Australian school-children, aged 14 to 15 for seven years, found that while
children who use cannabis regularly have a significantly higher risk of
depression, the opposite was not the case - children who already suffered from
depression were not more likely than anyone else to use cannabis. However,
adolescents who used cannabis daily were five times more likely to develop
depression and anxiety in later life.
Psychoses - schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
There is now
sufficient evidence to show that those who use cannabis particularly at a
younger age, such as around the age of 15, have a higher than average risk of
developing a psychotic illness, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
These studies also
show that the risk is dose-related. In other words, the more cannabis someone
used, the more likely they were to develop a psychotic illness. Furthermore, a
study in Australia recently showed that those who used cannabis could develop
the illness about 2.70 years earlier than those who did not.
Why should teenagers
be particularly vulnerable to the use of cannabis? It is thought that this has
something to do with brain development. The brain is still developing in the
teenage years – up to the age of around 20, in fact. A massive process of
‘neural pruning’ is going on. This is rather like streamlining a tangled jumble
of circuits so they can work more effectively. Any experience, or substance,
that affects this process has the potential to produce long-term psychological
effects.
It is also known that not everyone who uses
cannabis, even at a young age, develops a psychotic illness. The available
research shows that those who have a family history of a psychotic illness, or
those who have certain characteristics such as schizotypal personality, or
possibly have certain types of genes, may increase the risk of developing a
psychotic illness following the regular use of strong cannabis.
ALCOHOL and Mental Health:
(Note: In order to authenticate our study and to back it up with as much substantiated data as possible, we searched in and made use of newspapers, books, magazines and the internet. The following information has been drawn from these sources (https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/) with the sole purpose of gaining knowledge for the study from every perspective possible and to make it more helpful.)
Alcohol alters your
brain chemistry. Our brains rely on a delicate balance of chemicals and
processes. Alcohol is a depressant, which means it can disrupt that balance,
affecting our thoughts, feelings and actions – and sometimes our long-term
mental health. This is partly down to ‘neurotransmitters’, chemicals that help
to transmit signals from one nerve (or neuron) in the brain to another. The
relaxed feeling you can get when you have that first drink is due to the
chemical changes alcohol has caused in your brain. For many of us, a drink can
help us feel more confident and less anxious. That’s because it’s starting to
depress the part of the brain we associate with inhibition. But, as you drink
more, more of the brain starts to be affected. It doesn’t matter what mood
you’re in to start with, when high levels of alcohol are involved, instead of
pleasurable effects increasing, and it’s possible that a negative emotional
response will take over. You could become angry, aggressive, anxious or
depressed.
Alcohol can actually
increase anxiety and stress rather than reduce it unfortunately reaching for a
drink won’t always have the effect you’re after.
·
Disturbed sleep
· Feeling lethargic and tired all the time
· Low mood
· Experiencing anxiety in situations where you would normally feel comfortable.
· Disturbed sleep
· Feeling lethargic and tired all the time
· Low mood
· Experiencing anxiety in situations where you would normally feel comfortable.
(Note: In order to authenticate our
study and to back it up with as much substantiated data as possible, we
searched in and made use of newspapers, books, magazines and the internet. The
following information has been drawn from these sources www.wikihow.com with the sole purpose
of gaining knowledge for the study from every perspective possible and to make
it more helpful.)
· Get rid of any lighters, matches, roach clips, bongs, or containers. Empty out all of your pockets to make sure you didn't miss anything.
· Flush any remaining weed down the toilet, so you can't simply dig it out of the trash later.
· Destroy all of your supplies. Or, if you can't render them useless, throw them into a disgusting dumpster so you're not tempted to climb in and get them. (You might want to wrap them in a discreet trash bag first, though.)
· Get rid of anything that even makes you want to smoke pot, whether it's your favorite video game or a poster in your room. This may sound extreme, but removing your triggers can help you beat your habit.
· If you have a dealer, take his number out of your phone.
· Change your morning routine. Try getting up a little earlier or later, having something different for breakfast, or showering at a different time.
· Change your work or school routine. Go to work or school by a different route, sit in a different seat if you can, and eat something different for lunch.
· Change your study routine. If you normally study in your bedroom (which leads to smoking pot), mix it up and study at a coffee shop or a library.
· Don't start eating less just to change up your routine, though. You may find that you're less hungry, but you should try to eat the same amount to stay healthy. (www.wkihow.com)
· Feeling lethargic and tired all the time
· Low mood
· Experiencing anxiety in situations where you would normally feel comfortable.
Now that we have a clearer picture of how these
drugs can affect us we’ll look at some explanatory pictures that will give us
an overview of the details we have mentioned and discussed above. Look at each
picture in detail; we have tried to make the most simplest and easy to
understand diagrams like pictures which give details about each particular
section that gets affected in our bodies. Let’s start with the diagram of
CANNABIS and then we’ll take a look at the Picture presentation of the Affects
of ALCOHOL.
Until now we hope
that our reader would have a very clear, precise and complete idea about the
harmful effects of these drugs. And we hope that there are going to be many who
won’t have to read it any further in order to quit drugs. But for those who
still need more proof we’ll go into a little more detail and explain how
CANNABIS and ALCOHOL Interferes with a person’s social life and Academic
Careers.
How the use of CANNABIS and ALCOHOL can become dangerous for its user’s personal, social life and Academic Career:
In the beginning we had an
overview of how these drugs affects its user biologically, now we’ll shed light
upon the things that comes after biological problems; the social life, after
crossing through the limit lines, the user feels Disconnected from the society,
away from friends, and tends to be alone, the sleeping habits are disturbed and
at this stage, the user have little or no control over how to continue with the
daily routine, talking specially about students, they would be less attentive
and less interested to wake up early in the morning to go to their colleges or
universities and attend lectures, because the users concentration power is also
slowed down so he/she doesn't consider his/her self in comfortable state of
mind that a person normally has when he/she is not on drugs, and as a result,
the user begins to ignore opportunities and the feeling of laziness begins to
take control of the user. At this point he/she begins to blame his/her luck and
destiny for the missed opportunities, and because of the confused state of mind
caused by drugs becomes so strong that the user cannot properly figure out
what’s stopping him/her from availing opportunities or perform well in exams,
Low grades make them feel like losers and cause them to lose motivation and low
self-esteem comes as the outcome of such scenarios, which is a shame feeling,
that makes the user to hide from relatives and those friends who have
succeeded. This takes the user slowly and gradually into the state of solitude,
the place which is good and bad at the same time, but certainly for a drug
addict it’s not a good state to be living in. Because the chances increase that
they may fall into the trap of psychological problems, to cut the long story
short, the user’s life becomes messy and confusing.
How CANNABIS and ALCOHOL interferes in the User’s brain Activity and how the use of these drugs can cause psychological disorders:
CANNABIS and Mental Health:
(Note: In order to authenticate our study and to back it up with as much substantiated data as possible, we searched in and made use of newspapers, books, magazines and the internet. The following information has been drawn from these sources https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/ with the sole purpose of gaining knowledge for the study from every perspective possible and to make it more helpful.)
There is growing
evidence that people with serious mental illness, including depression and
psychosis, are more likely to use cannabis or have used it for long periods of
time in the past. Regular use of the
drug has appeared to double the risk of developing a psychotic episode or
long-term schizophrenia. However, does cannabis cause depression and
schizophrenia or do people with these disorders use it as a medication?
Over the past few
years, research has strongly suggested that there is a clear link between early
cannabis use and later mental health problems in those with a genetic
vulnerability - and that there is a particular issue with the use of cannabis
by adolescents.
Depression
A study following 1600
Australian school-children, aged 14 to 15 for seven years, found that while
children who use cannabis regularly have a significantly higher risk of
depression, the opposite was not the case - children who already suffered from
depression were not more likely than anyone else to use cannabis. However, adolescents
who used cannabis daily were five times more likely to develop depression and
anxiety in later life.
Psychoses - schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
There is now
sufficient evidence to show that those who use cannabis particularly at a
younger age, such as around the age of 15, have a higher than average risk of
developing a psychotic illness, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
These studies also
show that the risk is dose-related. In other words, the more cannabis someone
used, the more likely they were to develop a psychotic illness. Furthermore, a
study in Australia recently showed that those who used cannabis could develop
the illness about 2.70 years earlier than those who did not.
Why should teenagers
be particularly vulnerable to the use of cannabis? It is thought that this has
something to do with brain development. The brain is still developing in the
teenage years – up to the age of around 20, in fact. A massive process of
‘neural pruning’ is going on. This is rather like streamlining a tangled jumble
of circuits so they can work more effectively. Any experience, or substance,
that affects this process has the potential to produce long-term psychological
effects.
It is also known that not everyone who uses
cannabis, even at a young age, develops a psychotic illness. The available
research shows that those who have a family history of a psychotic illness, or
those who have certain characteristics such as schizotypal personality, or
possibly have certain types of genes, may increase the risk of developing a
psychotic illness following the regular use of strong cannabis.
ALCOHOL and Mental Health:
(Note: In order to authenticate our study and to back it up with as much substantiated data as possible, we searched in and made use of newspapers, books, magazines and the internet. The following information has been drawn from these sources https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/ with the sole purpose of gaining knowledge for the study from every perspective possible and to make it more helpful.)
Alcohol alters your
brain chemistry. Our brains rely on a delicate balance of chemicals and
processes. Alcohol is a depressant, which means it can disrupt that balance,
affecting our thoughts, feelings and actions – and sometimes our long-term
mental health. This is partly down to ‘neurotransmitters’, chemicals that help
to transmit signals from one nerve (or neuron) in the brain to another. The
relaxed feeling you can get when you have that first drink is due to the
chemical changes alcohol has caused in your brain. For many of us, a drink can
help us feel more confident and less anxious. That’s because it’s starting to
depress the part of the brain we associate with inhibition. But, as you drink
more, more of the brain starts to be affected. It doesn't matter what mood
you’re in to start with, when high levels of alcohol are involved, instead of
pleasurable effects increasing, and it’s possible that a negative emotional
response will take over. You could become angry, aggressive, anxious or
depressed.
Alcohol can actually
increase anxiety and stress rather than reduce it unfortunately reaching for a
drink won’t always have the effect you’re after.
While a glass of wine
after a hard day might help you relax, in the long run it can contribute to
feelings of depression and anxiety and make stress harder to deal with. This is
because regular, heavy drinking interferes with neurotransmitters in our brains
that are needed for good mental health. When we drink, we narrow our perception
of a situation and don’t always respond to all the cues around us. If we're
prone to anxiety and notice something that could be interpreted as threatening
in the environment, we'll hone in on that and miss the other less threatening
or neutral information. For example, we
might focus on our partner talking to someone we’re jealous of, rather than
notice all the other people they've been chatting to that evening.. Alcohol
depression = a vicious cycle If you drink heavily and regularly you’re likely
to develop some symptoms of depression. It’s that good old brain chemistry at
work again. Regular drinking lowers the levels of serotonin in your brain – a
chemical that helps to regulate your mood. In Britain, people who experience
anxiety or depression are twice as likely to be heavy or problem drinkers. For
some people, the anxiety or depression came first and they've reached for
alcohol to try to relieve it. For others, drinking came first, so it may be a
root cause of their anxieties. Drinking heavily can also affect your
relationships with your partner, family and friends. It can impact on your
performance at work. These issues can also contribute to depression. If you use
drink to try and improve your mood or mask your depression, you may be starting
a vicious cycle…Warning signs that alcohol is affecting your mood include:
· Disturbed sleep
· Feeling lethargic and tired all the time
· Low mood
· Experiencing anxiety in situations where you would normally feel comfortable.
Now that we have a clearer picture of how these
drugs can affect us we’ll look at some explanatory pictures that will give us
an overview of the details we have mentioned and discussed above. Look at each
picture in detail; we have tried to make the most simplest and easy to
understand diagrams like pictures which give details about each particular
section that gets affected in our bodies. Let’s start with the diagram of
CANNABIS and then we’ll take a look at the Picture presentation of the Affects
of ALCOHOL.
Helpful techniques to help quit, resist CANNABIS and ALCOHOL to get back to normalcy:
How to Quit Smoking Cannabis:
(Note: In order to authenticate our
study and to back it up with as much substantiated data as possible, we
searched in and made use of newspapers, books, magazines and the internet. The
following information has been drawn from these sources www.wikihow.com with the sole purpose
of gaining knowledge for the study from every perspective possible and to make
it more helpful.)
Throw out all your
pot and your smoking paraphernalia. If you remove the things that make it easy
for you to start smoking again, you might be less likely to give in to your
cravings. Here's what you should do:
· Get rid of any lighters, matches, roach clips, bongs, or containers. Empty out all of your pockets to make sure you didn't miss anything.
· Flush any remaining weed down the toilet, so you can't simply dig it out of the trash later.
· Destroy all of your supplies. Or, if you can't render them useless, throw them into a disgusting dumpster so you're not tempted to climb in and get them. (You might want to wrap them in a discreet trash bag first, though.)
· Get rid of anything that even makes you want to smoke pot, whether it's your favorite video game or a poster in your room. This may sound extreme, but removing your triggers can help you beat your habit.
· If you have a dealer, take his number out of your phone.
Make your decision
clear to your support system. Tell trustworthy friends and family members what
you're doing, and ask for their support in quitting. You'll probably find that
they're thrilled to see you quit and support you however they can.
This is especially
important if you want to remain close to people who are active smokers. Tell
them that you're not trying to get them to quit, but you'd appreciate it if
they don't pressure you into using. If you get no support from anyone or if
they try to get you to "join in", consider whether that person really
belongs in your life if he/she can't respect your choices and requests.
You may even have
to avoid the friends that you smoke with for a while. If your entire social
life with your friends consisted of getting high together, then you'll have to
find a new social network. This may sound harsh, but that's the way it goes.
Prepare for
withdrawal. The good news is it's temporary: marijuana withdrawal begins 1 day
after you quit cold turkey, hits a peak after 2 or 3 days, and eventually
levels off after 1 or 2 weeks You might not experience any or all of them, but
it's important to have a plan in place for what you'll do about them instead of
going back to pot. The bad news is, there are symptoms. Here are some of the
symptoms you may experience:
·
Sleeplessness: Try to
avoid caffeine for the first few days, and hit the hay as soon as you're tired
in the evening.
·
Decreased
appetite: You might feel nauseated at first. Try to eat bland
foods that are easy on the stomach, such as bananas, rice, toast, oatmeal and
apples.
·
Irritability: As you
experience the mood swings that accompany withdrawal, you might find yourself
quick to anger or prone to crying. Plan for these ahead of time, and when they
happen try to take a step back and acknowledge what's happening. Tell yourself,
"This isn't me, and this isn't the situation. It's the withdrawal."
Repeat it as often as you need to.
·
Anxiety: Feeling
on-edge or generally out of sorts is a common symptom of withdrawal that can come
with quitting any drug. When you have a spare minute, close your eyes, breathe
deeply, and remember that withdrawal is only temporary.
·
Increased body temperature: you may feel
hotter than normal and may start sweating from time to time.
Find a replacement
activity. Instead of using, devote your new free time to a hobby or sport. Try
to make it something you can do as quickly and easily as lighting up — such as
playing guitar or going for a run — and turn to it whenever you're tempted. If
you're feeling too bored or depressed to do this, watch a movie that makes you
smile or spend some time with a good friend who is not a user. Here are some
other things to try:
· Taking long walks
· Talking to an old friend on the phone
· Swimming
· Cooking
· Reading the newspaper
· Taking long walks
· Talking to an old friend on the phone
· Swimming
· Cooking
· Reading the newspaper
Change your
routine. In addition to finding a new hobby, you should switch up your routine
so that you don't start missing pot so badly during the time that you usually
spent getting high. Here are some things you can do:
· Change your morning routine. Try getting up a little earlier or later, having something different for breakfast, or showering at a different time.
· Change your work or school routine. Go to work or school by a different route, sit in a different seat if you can, and eat something different for lunch.
· Change your study routine. If you normally study in your bedroom (which leads to smoking pot), mix it up and study at a coffee shop or a library.
· Don't start eating less just to change up your routine, though. You may find that you're less hungry, but you should try to eat the same amount to stay healthy. (www.wkihow.com)
How to Quit Drinking Alcohol:
(Note: In order to authenticate our study and to back it up with as much substantiated data as possible, we searched in and made use of newspapers, books, magazines and the internet. The following information has been drawn from these sources (www.wikihow.com) with the sole purpose of gaining knowledge for the study from every perspective possible and to make it more helpful.)
Talk to your doctor. If you
choose to start the path to recovery alone, bear in mind that alcohol
withdrawal can potentially be deadly. If you start experiencing severe
withdrawal symptoms (panic attacks, severe anxiety, the shakes, rapid heart
beat) you should seek immediate medical assistance. The condition could
potentially deteriorate to delirium tremens, which is deadly, if left
untreated.
·
Don't feel like you need to
quit alone. You are carrying a heavy burden, but plenty of people (including
people with medical degrees) want to help you. It's often easier to quit with
the help of medical intervention than it is to try it cold turkey.
·
Doctors treating withdrawal
from alcohol often prescribe benzodiazepines to help with symptoms.[1]
Benzodiazepines, which include alprazolam (Xanax), clonazepam (Klonopin),
diazepam (Valium) and lorazepam (Ativan), are psychoactive drugs used to calm
anxiety and quell panic.[2] They are relatively safe and are rarely fatal when
overdosed.[2]
Change
your attitude about quitting. Remember,
you're not being forced to give up a good friend who has treated you well.
Instead, you are finally ridding yourself of an enemy. Adjust your attitude so
that quitting is made easier. Your better half wants you to quit; your selfish
half wants you to stay the same.
Try to pick some significant date to quit. Be
ambitious, but reasonable. If you are very heavy drinker you must first slow
down to avoid withdrawal symptoms (in this case it is best to have your doctor
help you plan your quitting date).
Get rid of all bottles, cans, etc. Don't feel
that just because you are having guests over you need to offer them a beer,
wine, or cocktail. It is perfectly fine to offer people tea, lemonade, coke, or
the like.
Feel your feelings. Cry when you need to. Laugh when you can. Eat when you
are hungry. Sleep when you are tired. This is going to be really weird at
first, but embrace it. You haven't felt your feelings for a long time. You will
have a learning curve.
Don't put yourself with people or in situations where
you're likely to drink.
There's an old saying about "Playgrounds and
Playmates" — look at yours. You may need to leave some of your old
drinking buddies and watering holes behind. That being said, it can be quite a
revelation to find out that the friends you used to drink with were drinking
with you only occasionally and were having two beers or two glasses of wine to
your five.
·
Don't
do anything you don't feel ready to do. If going to the beach is a time when
you drank a lot, don't go this year. If going to a certain friend's home for
dinner is a time when you drank a lot, get a rain check this time. Protecting
your sobriety is the most important thing you are doing right now. Take care of
you! Don't worry about everyone else right now.
·
In the initial stage, reduce the quantity of alcohol
intake. Rome wasn't built in a day. You're probably not going
to kick your habit in a week, either. That's perfectly okay. Small victories
beget bigger ones. In the beginning, simply try to reduce the amount of alcohol
you consume. Going straight from a heavy drinker to cold turkey is a recipe for
physical and emotional disaster.
·
Imagine
that due to excess alcohol, you are vomiting and having paralyzing headaches.
If you've felt this way before while drinking, try to summon those memories.
The pain you feel is good: it's a willingness to change your habits, and that's
the first step.
·
Even
if you only reduce your daily drinking by one drink, it's a success. No step is
too small at this point. A mistake here is getting comfortable only curbing
your drinking by one drink. Keep working on reducing the alcohol you consume.
Every week, cut down the total number of drinks by at least one. If you want to
be more ambitious, try halving the number of drinks you allow yourself each
week.
Have
food before you drink.
Eating
a meal before drinking will reduce your interest for drinking. It will also
make it harder to get drunk. If you do this, don't trick yourself into letting
your body get as drunk as you would have if you hadn't eaten — although very
clever, that's what we call cheating!
Drink a lot of water. Water will
help keep you hydrated, make you feel better, and help flush out toxins from
your body. Men are advised to drink 12 cups (3.0 liters) of water a day, and
women are advised to drink 9 cups (2.2 liters).
Revise recipes that
call for alcohol. This will make it harder for you to justify having
alcohol in your house. Use non-alcoholic sparkling wine instead, or cut that
part out of the recipe.
Don't try to explain quitting to people. Most people do not drink like alcoholics do. They are not like us and
therefore they cannot understand the fact that we truly have a problem with
alcohol. Of course, there are others who have the problem too. Either way,
people will say "You don't have problem!" When you do quit drinking,
just say "No thanks, I'll have a Diet Coke — I'm trying to watch my
weight." If you hang out with them very much they'll figure it out — and
they'll think "Good for him!"
If you are a scheduled drinker, change your routine. If you religiously start drinking right after work or
when you go home, change your routine to involve another activity. Visit your
parents or a friend. A little change of scenery will help break the cycle of
addiction.
· Buy
a planner and plan activities during the times when you would normally drink.Idle hands are the devil's workshop,
right? If you plan activities with other people, it'll be harder to get drunk.
If you write those activities down in a planner, you'll be more likely to do
them.
Don’t give up on yourself, Many people will find excuses like, “I’ve been
drinking for so long, it probably won’t make any difference,” or “I’ve tried so
many times, I just can’t do it.” Some will feel hopelessly defeated if they find
that they have something highly progressive like cirrhosis of the liver.
Quitting drinking can extend life no matter what’s going on. How long it
extends is entirely up to you. Don't justify not quitting to yourself. Quitting
justifies itself.
· You
should remind yourself that if you were willing to try quitting so many times
in the past, you have the ability to try again. There is no age limit nor is
it ever too late to
try to quit drinking. Even if the last thing that you do is quit, the victory
of quitting pays for itself and gives hope to other people.
Don’t let guilt consume you. Some people will feel a sense of foolishness and guilt
over not having done something sooner. Don’t pass blame on anyone. Alcohol is
the enemy. It has been whispering in your ear and telling you that it’s more
important than anything else in your life. There is nothing more important than
you. You are of no use to anyone if you die. Hence, you must overthrow the oppressive rule of alcohol and start fresh, just as
any country in revolution.
· Feeling
guilty is only half of the equation. If you're just getting sober because you
feel guilty, you're getting sober for the wrong reasons. You should be getting
sober because you care about yourself, you care about the happiness of your
family and friends (who care deeply about you), and you care about leaving an
impact on the world. Guilt is only half the reason you should be quitting.
Buy a "sober wallet." Whenever you think about buying a bottle or a drink
put that amount of money in your sober wallet. It will literally shock you.
Staying sober is all about seeing the tangible benefits of sobriety, which we
too often don't get to see. Getting a sober wallet will help make those
benefits more tangible.
· Use
the money in your sober wallet for healthy stress relief: get a massage, visit
to a day spa, and join a yoga class. If you're not into those things, buy
yourself a healthy distraction like CD box set, a new set of furniture, or some
gifts for your friends.
Buy a small piece
of inexpensive jewelry as a reminder of your sobriety. Get a ring or bracelet, or henna your
hand, or indulge in a special manicure to remind yourself that your hands no
longer buy or touch alcohol.
Take a B vitamin
supplement daily for your first week off alcohol. Alcohol affects the ability of the body
to absorb these vitamins, specifically thiamine.[4]Deficiency can cause severe cognitive impairment, including
Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome or wet brain.
Make lists. Without involving alcohol, make a list
of ways to "do" all the things you did when you used to get drunk.
Make a list of ways to celebrate. A list of ways to have a romantic dinner. A
list of ways to relax and unwind. A list of ways to be sociable. Many people
live fulfilled lives without using alcohol as a crutch; convincing every fiber
of your body that it's possible makes that jump so much easier.
If you are tempted,
try to visualize what you might look like totally out of control. Do you really want to be that person
again? Don't fall into the mindset that you're forever going to be that person.
You will forever be an alcoholic, but that doesn't mean that you can't be a
happy, sober, and well-adjusted alcoholic. That's your goal.
Embrace the
psychological benefits of sobriety. Embrace how good it feels to go to sleep
at night without slipping into a coma, only to awaken at 3 in the morning with
a desert for a mouth and a splitting headache. Embrace how good it feels to
remember the people you met the previous night, and to recall their happiness
at meeting you. Embrace how good it feels love yourself for who you are, not
punish yourself for who you have become.
Remember
the reasons why you quit in the first place.
Cherish your reasons. We don't always have reasons for acting
the way we do — you may not have had very many when you were struggling — but
when we do, they give us meaning and make us principled. That's a good thing. What are your reasons for staying sober?
·
"I
never want to miss work because I have a hateful hangover again."
·
"I
never want to embarrass my child in front of her friends again."
·
"I
never want to be ugly to my spouse because I've had one too many again."
·
"I
never want to get a DUI (again)."
·
"I
never want to drunk dial my friends and relatives and act like an idiot
again."
·
"I
never want to hide bottles all over the house again."
·
"I
never want to have to pretend I remember what happened the night before when I
don't recall anything after X o'clock again."
·
"I
don't want to lose this marriage the way I lost my first marriage to the
ravages of alcohol again."
·
Or
"I wonder what it would be like to feel good again."
Do not avoid all
situations where you would normally drink. Instead approach them with a good
attitude and remember that you can have a good time without drinking. On the
other hand, if you know the temptation will be too great, don't put yourself in
a situation where you are likely to slip up. Be smart about your limitations —
everyone has them.
Memorize inspirational thoughts. Memorize a prayer, poem or something (i.e. Hamlet's
speech "To be, or not to be") to repeat to yourself when you are
losing your mind; remembering and reciting it will keep your head together
sometimes.
Here
are just a few inspirational quotes that you might find help you calm your
thoughts:
·
"Health is the greatest gift, contentment the
greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship." - Buddha
·
"Believe you can and you're halfway there." - Theodore Roosevelt
·
"I believe that laughing is the best calorie
burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when
everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the
prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in
miracles." - Audrey Hepburn
Give yourself a
prize for every day or every hour that you haven't had a drink. In the beginning, this makes a
bigger-than-expected difference. Wrap the presents up (or don't, it's your call!)
and give them to a friend or family member you trust for safe-keeping. Check in
with your friend when you've completed one hour, or day, or week of sobriety
and redeem your present. Allow your friend or family member to share in your
joy.
Ask for support.
It may be the hardest part of your path to recovery, but
telling you family or spouse what you are going through and what you are trying
to achieve is a huge step. Like it or not, few people
achieve sobriety alone, and even fewer sustain it alone. Don't feel inadequate
about telling your family and friends what you are dealing with.
Set
guidelines for what you'd like your friends and family to accept. If you're
game, ask them to take alcohol from you if they see you drinking it. Ask them
to be your better half and help you get back closer to sobriety.
Watch as sobriety
changes your life in front of your own eyes. After 90 days of complete sobriety, your
whole outlook will be changed and your body will be in full recovery mode. You
will likely have lost weight; you will likely feel more energized and happier
about who you are. You will be like a completely different person.
Don't be afraid to talk about your experiences. Anytime you feel weak, tempted, or pessimistic, reach
out to someone you know you can trust. (It's really hard to swallow and talk at
the same time.) Lean on them. Maybe it's a sponsor, maybe it's a friend; maybe
it's mom. Whoever it is, learn how to open up to your feelings and overcome
them instead of stifling your feelings and never truly dealing with them.
· Once
you're ready, share your experiences with other people in need. Maybe you agree
to talk to high-school children about your addiction and its aftermath. Maybe
you write a heartfelt message and post it online. Whatever you do, try to pay
all the help you were given forward. Even if you only get through to one
person, you've done more than enough.
TIPS:
- Why alcohol is taking over your life is a question that
will only be answered when you DON'T let it take over your life.
- Remember one day at a time don't think of future events
just deal with today this will pass !
- Do not try to make a habit to quit a habit.
- Keep chocolate handy. Chocolate cravings are typical
when problem drinkers quit. It will increase your endorphins and help
reduce the urges you will feel.
- Use a nasty flavored mouthwash frequently. Swish it around in your mouth for 30 seconds to a minute every time you crave a drink. You will associate the flavor with alcohol and will soon stop.
By: Prof Dr. Soshail Akash, PhD, Neuropsychology.More About Dr. Soshail Akash
Research training, expertise and qualifications
Neuropsychology
Clinical Neuropsychology
Clinical Psychology
Forensic Psychology
Psychology
Patients' feedback on their experience with Dr. Soshail Akash
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