The Emotional Roller-CoasterAnyone who has used alcohol or another drug can tell you about the emotional roller-coaster ride. First it’s up, then it’s down.
What does an addict do to remedy the terrible depression that follows drug use? He takes more. The lows, unfortunately, keep getting lower, and it becomes harder and harder to reach a “high.”
That is one of the problems inherent in using psychiatric drugs to “treat” emotional problems. These drugs mask the problems – they certainly do not eliminate them.
And drugs do affect the mind. Among other things, they cause blank periods in memory – anything from temporarily lowered consciousness to total memory loss. The degree depends on the person and the dosage.
It is more than just a metaphor, when one wants to get drunk or high, that he or she says, “Let’s go get stupid.” Or stoned, smashed or wasted. “Wasted” is probably the most appropriate word.
Drug use harms concentration, mental recording and the ability to recall. Barring permanent brain damage, effective substance abuse rehabilitation can restore these functions to the individual.
Destroying Initiative and Educational Abilities
One of the worst aspects of street drugs is their impact on ambition. Drugs have insidious yet devastating effects upon children and their ability to envision hopes and dreams. Ambition enables a person to learn to enjoy life and to pursue happiness without drugs, but it can be destroyed through drug abuse.
When a person is intoxicated by drugs, important functions are adversely affected, including concentration, recording and recalling. These tools are essential to learning and without them, education is impaired.
Addiction becomes the all-consuming focus of activities aimed at procuring more drugs. Education, careers, relationships and life itself take a back seat.
In my opinion, the damage that drugs wreak upon ambition and the ability to learn are among the most serious long-term effects of drug use.
Continued...
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