Nearly 50 million Americans fight against an addiction and relapse is a common struggle in the recovery process.
Drug use disorder often requires multiple attempts to stop before they successfully go soberly, according to a report from researchers from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
The authors investigated nearly 350 people about how many attempts it needed to leave a substance before they were finally able to keep their austerity – reveal which medicines could be the most addictive.
The researchers looked at 12 substances ranging from alcohol and nicotine to cocaine and marijuana.
Some drugs are harder to lay down than others, the team said. In a ranking of the substances with the most stop attempts, painkillers such as Oxycontin or Vicodin took first place and was closely followed by opioids without a prescription such as fentanyl and heroin.
On average, the addicts cost about six attempts to leave these vices before they stayed sober.
Stopping these drugs is extremely difficult because of the hold that they have about users. The substances hijap the brain to become the user's life, to surpass food and shelter in order important. All the while the user must continue to increase his doses to reach the high that they have experienced the first time.
An estimated 2.5 million American adults have an addiction to opioids, who were responsible for more than 107,000 fatal overdoses in 2023.
Painkillers on prescription and opioids such as Fentanyl required the most stop attempts followed by stimulating agents and alcohol. Surprisingly, nicotine ranked under cannabis. Substances with more attempts stopped also tend to cause serious withdrawal symptoms, such as pain and anxiety
In a ranking of the substances with most stop attempts, recipe pain medication was at the top of the list, followed by non-reception opioids such as fentanyl and heroin
Subsequently, in the study, published in the journal Drug and Alcohol dependence, stimulating agents such as Adderall, Ritalin and Methamfetamine, with an average of 4.4 stop attempts, followed by alcohol, with 4.2 stopped attempts.
Stimulating agents on prescription that are used to treat ADHD Double as party drugs in people who do not have the condition and are especially popular with young adults.
About 1.5 million Americans aged 12 years and older have a prescribed stimulating user disorder.
Some rankings can be surprising. Nicotine, which has a grip 24 million Americans, is not in the top five and came under cannabis.
Researchers said: “The differences in the number of stop attempts between substances are probably the result of a combination of physiological, psychological and social factors.”
The substances that were the most difficult to stop were also those with a low short -term treatment effectiveness and high relapse rates. Opioids, for example, have a recurrence rate of around 90 percent.
At the same time, if alcohol, stimulating agents and cannabis competitions are in the social life of a person, they can be more difficult to stop forever.
Substances with a larger number of stop attempts were also those that can cause serious physical symptoms of withdrawal, such as pain, nausea and fear.
In the US, the use of e-cigarettes has reached record highs with more than 17 million adults and 2 million children who are linked to the devices
Opioid withdrawal can be fatal. Symptoms include flu -like signs such as muscle pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. If vomiting and diarrhea are serious and untreated, they can lead to dehydration, high sodium levels and possibly heart failure.
Researchers from Virginia Tech reported that disorders with substance use is a chronic recurrent state that often requires several stop attempts before successful abstinence. Relapsing is part of the learning process and stumbling blocks are part of the recovery process.
They also found people who meet the criteria of having a more serious or more extensive history of drug use disorder, perhaps more attempts before they achieve abstinence.
The analysis showed that both age during the first use and the duration that a substance abused were important factors that related to the number of stop attempts.
The longer someone used a substance, the more attempts they usually have made to stop. Those with a longer use history can be larger challenges for stopping before stopping, which is reflected in the higher number of attempts.
Dr. Rafaela Fontes, a research scientist at the Institute, said: 'We treat addiction as an acute condition, although we know it is a chronic recurrent state.
'When we talk about addiction, we must understand that it is not one size. There are some substances that are more difficult to stop than others and it is not as easy or as difficult for everyone. We cannot use the same strategy for everything because it may not work. '
Researchers conducted the study using data from the International Quit and Recovery Registry, an online community of adults in recovery.
A 2023 survey showed that two -thirds of the Americans reported that they or a family member suffer from addiction to drugs or alcohol. The above information comes from a separate poll from KFF Health Tracking
A study was published by 344 people in August 2023 and asked for their history for 12 substances – nicotine, alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, opioids, stimulants, prescribed painkillers, hallucinogens, anesthetics, calming agents, inhalers and a category 'others. '
It also asked about the severity of their addiction, their primary substance and the number of attempts to stop.
Before the study, 'stop' was determined by asking people if they still used a certain substance. If they said no, this meant that they had stopped. On average, the participants have been sober for more than seven years.
The substance with the fifth most stop attempts was tranquilations, with 3.8, followed by inhalers, such as nitrogen oxide (usually smiling gas), amylnitrite (poppers) and ether, with 3.7 stop attempts.
Anesthetics had the seventh highest number of attempts to stop, with 3.6. Cocaine then came up with 3.5 stop attempts, followed by cannabis with 3.4 stop attempts.
Nicotine users saw an average of 3.4 stop attempts and hallucinogenic users saw an average of 2.7.
Dr. Allison Tegge, corresponding author of the study and a research professor of the investigation at the Institute, said: 'What this study is striking is that we have not only considered the substance, but we have asked additional questions to look into the individual experience Context. '
The study was published in the journal drug and alcohol dependence.
Addiction repair is a long -term, difficult process that requires constant self -reflection, self -discipline and willingness to seek support when needed.
Dr. Tegge added: 'If people in recovery knew the average number of attempts that it could take to leave a certain medicine, instead of seeing a fall as a failure, they can consider it a step on the journey. Insight into that relapse is part of recovery can help people remain involved.
'Maybe they can see that failure is part of the process and think:' I just have to keep trying, and eventually I will get there. '' '
