u  About drug addiction and strategy of overcoming addiction

I. Drug addiction is a type of brain diseases that needs comprehensive therapy and help. Though personal willpower and encourages from families can enhance the motive of overcoming addiction, they cannot completely replace the comprehensive addiction therapy.

II. The comprehensive addiction therapy shall include the following perspectives:

   (1) Prevention and therapy of related diseases: such as AIDS and depression.

   (2) Improvement of interpersonal relationship and family member interaction.

   (3) Assistance in employment, financial management and debt negotiation, etc. for drug abusers.

   (4) Understanding the related laws about drugs to reduce the risks of violating the laws accidentally and to avoid causing more damages.

III. Addiction, like other diseases, can be controlled temporarily with treatments. However, without careful attention, addiction can soon reappear at any time. It depends on long-term and comprehensive self-attention and life-style adjustment.

IV. Most abusers, even without any treatment, are able to stop drug abuse for a period of time by themselves. Whereas, to stop using drug is not equal to quit addiction. As encountering pressure and bad moods, the abusers will easily surrender and use drugs again. (Their drug addiction recurs.)

V. For reducing recurrence, it is necessary to learn the ways of handling pressure and regulating negative moods.

VI. Suggestions for dealing with pressure from work and life:

    (1) Judge your own conditions and set reasonable goals. As goals are too easy to achieve, you won’t feel the sense of achievement. However, a goal set over-high not only can be hard to achieve, but also will bring excessive stress.

       (2) If the goal is farseeing, it can be divided into several smaller goals and to be accomplished one by one. (To achieve high-floor with climbing up the stairs step by step.)

    (3) It is a good deed to ask for help at proper occasion. People cannot accomplish everything along. Lasting stress makes people exhausted.

VII. Suggestions for dealing with inter-personal pressure and family interaction:

    (1) Even the closest families and the best friends have their unique personalities and may not share the same viewpoints. When encountering disagreements, calm down first and try to understand the needs of each other, then express own opinions and communicate with each other rationally.

    (2) Communication is not only the method but also the process. Not all things can be solved nor comes to a consensus immediately. It is not easy to get the balance as well as to be improved gradually.

VIII. People are easily in suppressed moods under stress events and the negative moods will accumulate. If the stress is not relieved and regulated properly, negative moods that are excessively suppressed will break out at any moment and make people out of control.

    (1) How to intensify the positive moods: Do things you like to do, such as enjoying delicate cuisine and fishing.

    (2) How to relieve negative moods: Expel negative moods outwards. Exercising, singing and talking to someone are good ways to relieve that will make your mood become brighter.

    (3) When negative moods accumulated to certain extent, people will instinctively deal things in quick ways, such as drug abuse and violence. However, people cannot hold their willpower and rationality at this time.

    (4) Noticing and relieving your negative moods timely (Brief Symptom Rating Scale, BSRS-5) is the important basis for overcoming drug addiction.

IX. You may learn methods and concepts mentioned above in classes, group therapy and individualized treatment sessions organized by Center. Please try to apply what you have learnt here in Center to be familiar with these knowledge. It will be helpful in the real daily situations after treatments.

X. Recurrence of drug abuse is one of the necessary processed in abuse therapy. It is not necessary to blame yourself. Seeking for professional assistance immediately is the best way to minimize damages.

XI. Listening to successful experiences shared by former abusers will help drug abusers understand in advance the problems that may be possibly encountered during therapies, and get prepared with proper methods. It will be helpful to enhance the drug abusers’ confidence for therapy and to increase the chances for successful treatments.