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Addiction
Overcoming Substance & Behavioral Addictions
If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, you are not alone. Addiction comes in many forms, and can involve substance abuse or behavioral addictions. Coping with addiction often leads to feelings of being overwhelmed, out of control, or afraid. The Survivors Club has pulled together tools to help you face and survive many forms of addiction, as well as ways for loved ones of addicts to survive and thrive.
It is estimated that 43% of American adults have a child, parent, sibling or spouse who is or was an alcoholic. Addiction to alcohol is a widespread problem that can ruin families, friendships and even the user's body.
The following guide is designed to help you navigate your journey towards recovery with resources known to be helpful.
TSC has scoured the Web to gather together links to the very best alcohol addiction resources: articles, blogs, forums, and tools that can help you make better decisions and take action to overcome the range of physical, emotional, and other challenges you're facing now.
Please join TSC so you can share your story here. Start your Journey to Recovery
An addict feels a compulsion to carry out certain behaviors or consume certain substances that are often detrimental to his or her health or well-being. The hallmarks of addiction are often an increase in time spent in the consumption of behaviors or substances, multiple failed attempts to stop, and recurrent preoccupation with a behavior or substance. A person can get addicted to almost anything, and this can include the very common addiction to playing video games and surfing the internet. Start Your Journey To Recovery
Nicotine, the addictive chemical in tobacco, changes in the brain’s chemistry that can make quitting tobacco products difficult. Tobacco addiction creates both psychological and physiological responses in the body that cause an intense craving for tobacco products. This craving is so powerful that nicotine has been shown to be more addictive than crack cocaine or heroin. Since quitting tobacco is so difficult, it's important to talk with your loved ones and to ask for their understanding and support. It is estimated that 80% or more of all smokers wish they could stop smoking, yet much as they try, many find that they repeatedly slip back into the addiction. This addiction increases your risk of cancer and heart disease and therefore death. If you or someone your love is addicted to tobacco, this Survivors Club guide can help on the path to recovery.
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Gambling, food and sex addictions are a very severe psychological dependency on specific types of behavior and can be as difficult to break as a deep-seated drug or alcohol addiction. Compulsive behaviors, such as the almost uncontrollable need to engage in sexual activity or to gamble or to eat are difficult to cure because there is no single trigger mechanism that controls these behaviors in all individuals, making each case unique. Surviving with gambling, food and/or sex addition is a challenge. Understand that you are not alone. Some people find that dealing with the emotional aspect of process addiction is more of a hardship than the actual addictions themselves. If you or a loved one has such an addiction, this Survivors Club guide can help. Start Your Journey to Recovery
Drug addiction is not just a social problem but actually changes the chemical makeup of the human brain. Leaving a drug addiction behind can be very difficult emotionally, as feelings you may have controlled with drugs come to the surface. Treatment programs as well as some drugs can be prescribed to help transition an addict from drug addiction to health. Start your Journey to Recovery
