Cravings - First Barrier to Addiction Recovery

Recovery? What is it really? How is it maintained? What are the main barriers to staying clean and sober? Is there such a thing as mental cravings as well as physical cravings? I have found a lot of opinions and thoughts on this over the last couple of weeks during my readings and internet adventures. I located a really good article on the subject of cravings that I would like to pass along and get others opinions and feedback from. The subject of drug addiction can be a complicated one, to say nothing of drug rehab treatment. Hopefully this article when lend so light into an all to often murky area.

The First Barrier to Addiction Recovery

Cravings

The first challenge for any addict wishing to kick his addiction is overcoming the mental and physical cravings for drugs or alcohol. Cravings are strong, uncontrollable urges to use drugs or alcohol that drive the addict to once again use addictive substances.

To get an idea of what drug cravings are like, think of a time when you went for a long time without eating a meal and you were really hungry. Hunger is a mental and physical sensation that is triggered when the body needs food for nutrients and energy.

The craving for food, driven at a physical level, stimulates memories of eating food, which is followed by a strong desire or compulsion to consume food. Usually when a person is very hungry, they will think about their favorite foods; if they get hungry enough, they can sometimes even smell and taste certain foods.

If a person goes long enough without food, compelling thoughts of eating plus a growling stomach and shakiness due to not having eaten will become so great, making the person so uncomfortable, that they will drop whatever it is they are doing and arrange to get food and eat it. As soon as the food is consumed, the hunger pangs stop and the person feels good about satisfying their hunger.

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