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5 Stages of Addiction Are:
- First Use and Experimentation
- Regular Use
- Social Isolation and Behavioral Change
- Tolerance and Dependence
- Addiction
If you are on either of these stages of addiction, understand the underlying causes of addiction through our free addiction screening.
5 Stages of Addiction
Learn More About Each Stage of Addiction
Stage1: First Use and Experimentation
The first stage of addiction is undoubtedly the most difficult to recognize. No one can tell for sure if this new experimentation will turn into something serious. With less to almost no cravings, it becomes difficult to tell if you are developing substance dependency.
Just remember that addiction is a disease that requires medical intervention. If you or your loved one is on the verge of developing substance dependence, you can help them out by encouraging them to get timely treatment.
Stage2: Regular Use
In the 5 stages of addiction, denial is the most difficult to deal with. This is because an individual is on the verge of developing addiction but does not accept it. This denial phase results in treatment delay, which ultimately harms the person’s physical and mental condition.
Stage3: Social Isolation and Behavioral Change
The greatest giveaway of addiction is perhaps behavioral change along with social isolation. During this stage, most people usually develop recurrent cravings and urges for drugs or alcohol and are usually aware that they suffer from addiction. This leads them to develop secretive behavior, and it becomes the root cause of social isolation.
The red flags to usually look out for are:
- A person becomes less communicative
- Miss out on important social events and activities
- Miss out on work-related commitments
- No focus on self-care and personal hygiene
- Becomes more short-tempered and aggressive
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Stage4: Tolerance and Dependence
Tolerance happens when a user feels unwell until he/she takes an increased level of dose. Thus users have to intake higher, stronger, and more frequent doses to reach the same physical response and mental relief.
Dependence is when a person stops substance intaking, their body goes through withdrawal.
Withdrawal is the combination of physical and mental responses that appear when a person stops or lessens drug use. As a result, the user’s body requires a drug dose to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
Withdrawal Symptoms
Coping with withdrawal symptoms on your own is difficult as some intense symptoms force relapse. Do you have drug dependence? Feel welcome to contact ChoicePoint Health, and we’ll help you cope with it. Falling prey to substance dependence might not be your fault, but ruining your life by not giving up an addiction may cost you an unhappy future.
Let our addiction specialist help you understand your addiction dependence level and how easily you can get rid of it.
Stage5: Substance Use Disorder
At the final stage, the substance of choice becomes a part of the patient’s life. Patients cannot live and perform everyday life functions without intaking them. Despite devastating consequences on mental and physical health, personal relationships, and social image, patients tend to continue intaking drugs.
If you have ignored the earlier four stages of addiction, you don’t need to worry as you still have a chance to cure it.
Conclusion
At ChoicePoint, we provide all personalized addiction treatment programs that include telephone-based treatment, outpatient and intensive outpatient addiction treatment programs. Patients can avail these programs according to their schedule and comfort.
We start the process of treating addiction by knowing the underlying causes of addiction. Our seasoned therapists spend time with each patient through individualized therapy programs and correlate with medical experts and detox specialists to design your addiction recovery plan.
Medical Disclaimer:
ChoicePoint aims to improve the quality of life for people struggling with substance use disorder and mental health issues. Our team of licensed medical professionals research, edit and review the content before publishing. However, this information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. For medical advice please consult your physicians or ChoicePoint's qualified staff.
