Substance Abuse Counselor

Most people who start out using a drug or substance never imagine the damage it will do.

Once they are a substance abuser, they never believe the damage it is doing. That’s part of the cycle. It starts out casually and ends up destroying lives. Also, substance abuse affects many people other than the abuser.

For the substance abuser there is a roller coaster of emotion that normally goes along with any drug or alcohol . They may enjoy the tremendous high they get when they first take the drug but the downside is that it will be followed by a crash. This up and down gambit of emotion takes its toll after a while. The substance abuser normally does not consider it, but these dramatic mood and emotional changes also take a toll on loved ones.

The loved ones are confused about the dramatic changes in moods and behaviors. At first, they may not suspect substance abuse but it doesn’t take long to figure it out. They also see the physical and spiritual effects in the substance abuser. It is very difficult to watch a loved one go through substance abuse and it is unfair that the loved ones have to suffer too. They suffer because they care, although the substance abuser usually does not recognize that.

The substance abuser is destroying his or her body and mind as well. Of course, they will probably deny this too but the loved ones see it.

That drug or alcohol is destroying the abuser’s heart, liver, brain and other vital organs. Before too long, there is friction between the substance abuser and the family. Most of this is due to the abuser’s denial which is a symptom of substance abuse. By this time, there are numerous people suffering because of a short “high” that a drug brings about.

* Basically it boils down to 1% pleasure and 99% pain overall.

That includes physical, emotional and spiritual pain. The loved ones don’t even get the 1% pleasure. For them, it is 100% pain.

Overall, the effects of substance abuse are emotional turmoil for the user and loved ones, damage to the body and brain which cannot be reversed, destruction of long term relationships and eventually, death. Death may come as a result of an overdose, an accident while under the influence or by the damaging effects on the body caused by the drug.