I was asking a guy who is deep gone into substance abuse why he takes it, and he gave me this response without thinking twice "There is this compulsion or undying hunger to fill the need with the substance, and cases when he doesn't satisfy this hunger, he can become very uncomfortable, feeling like the world is going to end". After listening to that, I just confirmed he truly had an addiction to substance abuse. Addiction is a really bad thing, and it interferes with the ability of the person to function properly, fulfill roles, and even maintain relationships. Have you now noticed that in the quest to satisfy this urge, hunger, or compulsion, they end up becoming intoxicated as a result of over using which then keeps then in a physical and a mental state of exhilaration or lethargy.
I remember some time back, I asked a lady she started drinking, and she came up with the word Stress Management. Everyone uses has a pre-alcoholic period where they tell you that after a day's work, they go to the bar, and then it becomes an everytime thing. they tell you they need alcohol to calm their nerves after a break up, a heart break, a family loss, a bad news and so on. I remembered replying her that if she didn't drink alcohol at the time she began, was she going to lose any thing, but you know when someone is at the addition state, the response you get is "we have gone past that now". When people start to drink alcohol, they begin to increase their content taking and concentration to the point where they begin to blackout, start to have amnesia in cases of drinking to stupor (I remembered a day a course mate urinated on his food after drinking excessively, and the next day, he didn't even remember that such a thing happened. He had a complete blackout and partial amnesia), when they start to feel guilt at he early stage, they quickly go into the denial phase to defend themselves. Currently, this lady doesn't have control of her drinking, she binge drink, and everything about her revolves around alcohol. When she comes to my house, she request for alcohol, when she is at places of serious work, she has a bottle of alcohol, and she see it as a good companion. She is currently a drunk, and she doesn't have a stable relationship. She is a model but it is affecting her modelling. When i asked her when she became an addict asides taking it regularly after work, she said it was when she lost a model deal but now, she can't even perform well at better deals because she is not in control of her drinking attitude. She is currently more intoxicated than she's sober, although she isn't experiencing any life-threatening physical manifestation but I hope it doesn't get to that. She is yet to admit to me or any other person that she needs help but let me quickly discuss the treatment for alcohol.
Treatment for alcohol can be pharmacological with using Disulfiram, Naltrexone, and Acamprosate, and it can also be non-pharmacological with therapy sessions. When patients starts to withdraw from taking alcohol, they start to experience alcohol withdrawal syndromes which is as a result of the urge not being satisfied. This usually come with agitation which occurs within 4 to 6 hours of last alcohol consumption, and as the day goes by reaching day 2 or 3, patient can start to present with hyper agitation, course tremor, malaise, tachycardia, diaphoresis, hallucination, insomnia, and in severe cases Seizures. These symptoms can be managed with Benzodiazepine, vitamin, and electrolyte replacements. In cases of pure medication to manage the symptoms, the use of librium is acceptable.
I still ask myself what is the fun thing about alcohol, if it was sugar, I could understand that its sweet taste can be a reason to have a taste of it first before it becomes addictive but with alcohol, it is not even a fun taste to the mouth but as expected, the brain quickly gets addicted to things and always wants to be filled when it hungers for it. For the first guy whom I asked about how he feels whenever he wants to use substances, I was able to ask him to meet with a therapist, although I doubt he will even go at all but for friend (the lady), hopefully one day she will quit taking alcohol but it will require both pharmacological and non-pharmacological process to help her out of it.
Reference
https://americanaddictioncenters.org
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
https://www.cdc.gov
https://www.mayoclinic.org
https://www.healthline.com