The Addiction Cycle: What Are The Stages of Addiction?

As defined by the American Society of Addiction Medicine, addiction is a chronic brain disease that affects the brain’s reward, pleasure, memory, and motivation. Like many chronic diseases, it does not just spring up one day. Often, several circumstances line up that, over time, cause a person who would otherwise enjoy casual drinking or avoid substance abuse to become addicted to drugs or alcohol. The process of developing addiction in this case tends to occur over a series of stages and, like other chronic illnesses, often turns into a cycle of addiction, treatment or abstinence, and relapse.

The multiple stages of addiction can occur over a short period of time, or they can take months or even years to develop. A person who has only occasionally had a casual drink may, over years, develop a habit that can turn to alcoholism.

The Stages of Addiction

Sometimes, these stages may occur simultaneously. As an example, for illicit substances used to feel a “high,” even one use is considered to be abuse. Some of these illicit substances can also result in tolerance within one or two uses. Nevertheless, in the majority of cases, all of these steps are part of the chronic cycle of addiction.

On the other hand, the addictive potential of some drugs may be so strong that what seems to be an immediate addiction may develop. However, for the vast majority of people struggling with addiction, there are stages of substance use or abuse that lead to the circumstances resulting in the person becoming addicted. In general, these stages include:

1. Initial use
2. Abuse
3. Tolerance
4. Dependence
5. Addiction
6. Relapse

Stage 1: Initial Use

There are many reasons that the individual who ends up struggling with an addiction might try the substance to start with. It can be as seemingly benign as getting a prescription to manage pain or a mental health issue, as culturally typical as trying a first drink at the age of 21, or as insidious as being pressured by friends or family to try illicit drugs. Regardless of how the initial use occurs, it is the first step toward addiction.

Whether or not that initial use is more likely to lead to addiction is often a matter of individual circumstances. Mayo Clinic describes a number of risk factors that can lead a person to have a higher risk of developing addiction, including:

Nevertheless, even these risk factors won’t necessarily lead to the high-risk individual developing a substance use disorder like addiction. Other contributing factors often factor in, including the subsequent stages of addiction.

Stage 2: Abuse

Stage 3: Tolerance

When a person has been using a prescription drug or abusing other substances over a long period of time, the substance can cause changes in the brain that result in tolerance – a condition described by Merck Manuals as one in which the original dosage or use of the substance no longer produces the same physical or mental effect. As a result, the person using the substance may increase the dosage or frequency of use to try to recapture the original result. For a while, this might work. Then, over time, tolerance to this new dosage occurs, and the person increases again, creating a progression into heavy substance abuse.

Tolerance is an indication that the brain has changed in response to the drug. For methamphetamine or other stimulants, this could include the loss of certain brain chemical receptors or a decrease in brain chemical production. Slowly, the person’s brain adjusts and changes how it responds to the presence of the drug. This, over time, will lead to the next stage in the addiction cycle: dependence.

Stage 4: Dependence

At a certain point, the body or brain becomes dependent on having the substance to be able to function properly. As an example, a person who has been using cocaine or meth for a long time may find it impossible to feel pleasure without the drug – a condition called anhedonia.

However, if the person has been using a drug to treat another condition, and becomes dependent on that drug to feel good separate from the condition being treated, it may be a type of dependence that leads to addiction.

Stage 5: Addiction

Addiction is a specific, chronic mental health disorder that results in defined symptoms and behaviors that can be used to diagnose the condition. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), as described by Psych Central, the 11 signs and symptoms of substance use disorders like addiction include:

In general, experiencing 2-3 of these symptoms is considered a mild substance use disorder. Reporting 4-5 of them leads to diagnosis of a moderate disorder. If the person is experiencing 6 or more of the symptoms, it is considered to indicate a severe substance use disorder, or addiction.

Stage 6: Relapse

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Interrupting the Cycle

An individual may go through multiple attempts to stop using a substance before realizing that addiction is a factor. However, when addiction is diagnosed, it is possible to interrupt this cycle of addiction, abstinence, and relapse by getting professional treatment that is backed by research showing its ability to help. Multiple methods, including cognitive and behavioral therapies, peer group support, and other physical and mental health treatments can encourage the person to develop tools for managing this chronic, recurring condition.

As with the medications and therapies used to treat asthma and diabetes, the treatments in addiction rehab are designed to help the person learn to manage a chronic substance use disorder and reduce the likelihood of relapse to drug use. With motivation and experienced, certified help, these individuals can learn to interrupt the addiction cycle and move forward into the sustained abstinence that heralds recovery and results in a more positive future.