Addiction @ 20

Just Having Fun

When it comes to dealing with addiction most people don’t know what to do, especially teenagers and young adults. It may just seem like they’re just enjoying their youth, living their life and using drugs and/or alcohol to relate to their peers. Until that person suffers a lot of consequences, they won’t see the problem with their consumption of alcohol or drugs. To a teenager or young adult it may seem like they’re just having fun and there is nothing wrong with that. Or it could be that they are using to fill a void, that they are somehow misunderstood and the only way to feel like they have a sense of belonging is by using with their friends and doing whatever they can to fit in.

Addiction  is about more than the substance, it is a problem with the state of being or how a person views them self and the world. Because of the lack of knowledge and education in our communities about addiction, a lot of addicts do not get the help that they need and a lot of those people are teenagers and young adults.

Unmanageability Happens So Fast

The results of drug and alcohol abuse may only appear when they are much older. But in some cases, teenagers and young adults find themselves in the depths of addiction, having to seek help at what seems to be a young age. This would mean that the consequences of their lifestyle has gotten to a point where their lives are unmanageable. This is termed as outward unmanageability. Where inward unmanageability is the reason they use in the first place. Inward unmanageability is the constant feeling of not being good enough or unable to fit in at a social setting, such as school or other social situations.

When the outward unmanageability presents itself at such an early age, most teens and young adults are written off as “bad apples” and have to face the consequences. But the problem lies in the lack of knowledge as to what is wrong with them. Why do they behave the way that they do? Most of the time schools and society are not interested in that question. They would rather write them off and work with the ones that are easier to work with. This only makes the situation worse. If help is sought out at this stage, when their life seems to be going off the rails, the chances of them changing their lives are high, because it is very evident that there is something wrong here but no one seems to know what it is or what to do.

Too Young?

Rehabilitation at this stage of a person’s life, given that they have suffered enough consequences and the unmanageability is evident, can help change their life for the better. Even if it may seem like they are too young to go to rehab. There are cases where teens and young adults destroy their lives at such a rapid pace that the idea of rehabilitation is not too far off.

Some cases may not be so easy to deal with, when it comes to rehabilitating teens and young adults. In some cases the family will force these individuals to go to treatment when the individual does not see their substance abuse as a problem. The denial may be that, it’s recreational or that it’s not a big deal, they can cope. This means that the individual has not suffered a lot of consequences and the outward unmanageability is not very evident to them. Cases like these seem to be more resistant to the idea of rehabilitation. That does not mean that treatment is not required.

Being young is not an excuse as to why one should not go to rehab. Addiction varies, it affects people in different ways and at different paces. So do not write off the idea of treatment just because you or your loved ones are still young and “experimenting”. When things seem like they are going out of control, intervene before it’s too late

Stories of Recovery

• The encouragement, love and support from the team at Crossroads allowed me to eventually see that I was worth something - that my life could be turned around and that I could accomplish the things that had long been a forgotten dream.
  Oliver VG
  Read more
• On the last day of my stint at Crossroads I could only express gratitude towards all who works there. A wise councillor once commented on my question when one is ready for rehab by explaining that when one is ready for rehab, rehab is ready for you.
  Johan B
  Read more
• I was lost and my soul was broken until I ended up at Crossroads and was introduced to the Twelve Steps. With the help of their excellent staff and amazing support I have recently been clean for 18 months, I could not have done it without them!
  Carla S
  Read more
• "Just for today I am more than three years in recovery. I have Cross Roads to thank for this wonderful gift. Cross Roads helped me to set a firm foundation in my recovery on which I can continue to build."
  Angelique J
  Read more

Read more

Approved Medical Aids

Not according to prescription

Prescription medicine is indicated to provide relief for specific medical conditions. According to the substance prescribed, a schedule is allocated to make the public aware of the risk factors associated with the substance. This is indicated on the container of the medicine and patients should be aware that from S5 the substance in the medicine is indicative of being potentially addictive and prescriptions for these medicines should be renewed every 6 months.  Legal requirements are not adhered to by doctors or pharmacists and the monetary value for these professionals, outweigh the patients risks of becoming addicted to these medicines.

 An over the counter cough or flu mixture containing codeine can cause dependence within seven days and can cause major sickness in overcoming this. Codeine causes organ failure with extended use. Most common is the cough syrup Broncleer which contains codeine and is considered to be the most abused over the counter drug in South Africa. Codeine, is from the opioid family, along with heroin and morphine, and is also found in a range of other medications. This includes, but is not limited to, Myprodol and Mybulen, Benylin C, Syndol, AdcoDol, Tensodol, Sinutab C, and Sinumax Co.

Other Commonly Abused Medicines:

Benzodiazepines such as alprazolam (Xanax), diazepam (Valium), lorazepam (Ativan), and clonazepam (Klonopin)

Barbiturates such as such as pentobarbital (Nembutal), mephobarbital (Mebaral), and phenobarbital (Luminal)

Stimulant medications such as methylphenidate (Concerta, Ritalin) and dextroamphetamine (Adderall, Dexedrine).

Diet medicine, Obesan,Duromine, Relislim.  

One feature of prescription drug abuse is when a person continues to take the drug after it’s no longer needed. This is usually because the drug produces a euphoric responses. Prescription drugs are often preferred for abuse because of the mistaken belief that the drugs provide a “safe high”

Opioid misuse/abuse is responsible for about 75% of overdose-related deaths. That’s more than any other prescription or illegal drug.

Prevention of medicine abuse includes taking prescription medicine only as directed by your doctor, never share prescription medicine and do not take medication prescribed for someone else. So-called “Pharming Parties” are popular with teens whereby everyone brings medication from home, mix them and drink, smoke or snort them, causing severe side effects and possibly death.

Most important prevention starts with yourself, read the labels of medicine and be aware of the real danger of getting addicted to medicine. It by no means differs from illegal substance abuse!

Stories of Recovery

• The encouragement, love and support from the team at Crossroads allowed me to eventually see that I was worth something - that my life could be turned around and that I could accomplish the things that had long been a forgotten dream.
  Oliver VG
  Read more
• On the last day of my stint at Crossroads I could only express gratitude towards all who works there. A wise councillor once commented on my question when one is ready for rehab by explaining that when one is ready for rehab, rehab is ready for you.
  Johan B
  Read more
• I was lost and my soul was broken until I ended up at Crossroads and was introduced to the Twelve Steps. With the help of their excellent staff and amazing support I have recently been clean for 18 months, I could not have done it without them!
  Carla S
  Read more
• "Just for today I am more than three years in recovery. I have Cross Roads to thank for this wonderful gift. Cross Roads helped me to set a firm foundation in my recovery on which I can continue to build."
  Angelique J
  Read more

Read more

Approved Medical Aids

Latest Developments in Addiction Research

The latest developments in drug addiction research particularly in the area of neuro science has made a huge contribution to the “addiction industry” in recent times.
A lot of these advances have come from Cambridge University. (It does not get better than that in terms of credibility). According to a recently published article “The Addicted Brain” the locus of activity for most of the heavily used and abused drugs including cocaine, heroin, amphetamine, nicotine and alcohol has been identified.
Some of the most interesting discoveries are:
• That drug addiction is a form of aberrant learning resulting from a ‘hijacking’ of the natural reward system
• That dopamine release in an area of the brain called the nucleus accumbens is responsible for amphetamine’s stimulant behavioral effects.
• That drug cravings arise in part from memories for cues that have become associated with the drug”.
Researchers are now focusing on the ways to disrupt the addiction cycle and almost diminishing the power of these destructive memories.
We are aware of the fact that many addicts are “thrown into” these memories around the people they used with, the places where they used and the activities undertaking while using. The memories are triggered normally by the senses, be they visual, auditory and sometimes most powerfully olfactory senses. It is interesting that the recall normally centres on the euphoria or positive aspects of using rather than the destructive memories.
Teams of researchers are involved isolating those factors, including genetic ones that predict whether someone is vulnerable to the effects of drugs of abuse.
Cambridge scientists are using all forms of knowledge gathering techniques with emphasis on the “neurochemical and molecular aspects of addiction” to come up with new forms of treatment, some of them of a “pharmaceutical’ nature, to develop effective treatment programmes.
With relapse rates as high as they are with the disease of addiction, those who help in the treatment process are obliged to remain current with all forms of new innovation to assist in the treatment process.
With the advances intersecting the contribution of ‘hard” neuro scientific research to the softer behavioural sciences we can only develop much better advances to helping our clients who suffer from the disease of addiction.
Crossroads Recovery Centre is continually striving to use all tools principles and methodologies to make this contribution.

Stories of Recovery

• The encouragement, love and support from the team at Crossroads allowed me to eventually see that I was worth something - that my life could be turned around and that I could accomplish the things that had long been a forgotten dream.
  Oliver VG
  Read more
• On the last day of my stint at Crossroads I could only express gratitude towards all who works there. A wise councillor once commented on my question when one is ready for rehab by explaining that when one is ready for rehab, rehab is ready for you.
  Johan B
  Read more
• I was lost and my soul was broken until I ended up at Crossroads and was introduced to the Twelve Steps. With the help of their excellent staff and amazing support I have recently been clean for 18 months, I could not have done it without them!
  Carla S
  Read more
• "Just for today I am more than three years in recovery. I have Cross Roads to thank for this wonderful gift. Cross Roads helped me to set a firm foundation in my recovery on which I can continue to build."
  Angelique J
  Read more

Read more

Approved Medical Aids

Addiction is a family disease

Alcoholism and drug addiction have obvious and well documented effects on chronic substance abusers. Prolonged abuse of drugs and/or alcohol will deteriorate a person’s physical health, impair his or her mental functioning and damage the spirit. But how will these adverse effects impact the addict’s immediate family, and how will the damage manifest itself? Recovery is possible (Behavioral Health Inc. 2018).

While it can be easy to blame the person who is an addict or alcoholic, the entire family usually contributes to the continuation of the disease. A person in active addiction can be quite manipulative and convincing, and family members often have a difficult time saying no. The relationship then develops into a codependent relationship (Simple Recovery, 2018).

Codependent relationships happen very frequently with addicts and their families. Codependency can be defined as a condition that affects people in a way that they enable a person close to them to commit abuse by aiding and protecting that person (Recovery Direct, 2018). Families will hide the problem and help the addict or alcoholic in various ways. They sacrifice themselves and so not seek help (Recovery Direct, 2018).

Codependents usually react negatively when it is suggested that they seek treatment. They may feel that they did not cause the problem and they are not addicts themselves (Recovery Direct, 2018). However, there are organisations that offer help to families struggling with codependency.

Alanon; Naranon and Codependents Anonymous are programs of recovery from codependency and are a fellowship of men and women whose common purpose is to develop healthy relationships. These organisations are a  place where people can share their experiences, strengths and hopes in the effort to find freedom in their relationships with others and themselves. These programs follow a Twelve Step Program which is a central part of their suggested recovery program.

Stories of Recovery

• The encouragement, love and support from the team at Crossroads allowed me to eventually see that I was worth something - that my life could be turned around and that I could accomplish the things that had long been a forgotten dream.
  Oliver VG
  Read more
• On the last day of my stint at Crossroads I could only express gratitude towards all who works there. A wise councillor once commented on my question when one is ready for rehab by explaining that when one is ready for rehab, rehab is ready for you.
  Johan B
  Read more
• I was lost and my soul was broken until I ended up at Crossroads and was introduced to the Twelve Steps. With the help of their excellent staff and amazing support I have recently been clean for 18 months, I could not have done it without them!
  Carla S
  Read more
• "Just for today I am more than three years in recovery. I have Cross Roads to thank for this wonderful gift. Cross Roads helped me to set a firm foundation in my recovery on which I can continue to build."
  Angelique J
  Read more

Read more

Approved Medical Aids