Effects of Addiction on Family and Finance
Addiction is becoming an increasingly widespread epidemic, with numerous individuals globally grappling with addiction and its far-reaching effects. However, the repercussions extend beyond just those experiencing addiction themselves.
Addiction is an illness with devastating and far-reaching effects. Family members, especially children, can get caught in the crossfire. While the family members may not feel the bodily effects, they do experience the emotional and social effects.
Unfortunately, there are many more negative effects. Beyond the stress and strain placed on relationships, those who battle addiction can be almost assured of physical, mental, and even financial issues.
Those financial issues can vary widely. But they can follow someone even after they’ve defeated the addiction. People who have been convicted of a DUI in the past face issues in finding insurance coverage and high premiums. There are options for these situations and you can find cheap insurance for convicted drivers, but it takes a little know-how.
Effects of Addiction
The effects of addiction are many, wide reaching, and devastating. A life is completely consumed by addictions. Everything from a person’s mind, body, and finances can be thrown into turmoil.
More than that, however, addiction is felt by many other people. Those who suffer from alcohol or substance addiction will face many consequences, but so will those who love them.
Short-Term Effects
Short-term effects are those that resolve in a short period of time. How long that period is depends on a number of different factors including substance, age, overall health, length of use, or addiction.
How those short-term effects manifest themselves also depends on a number of factors. Different types of substances such as alcohol, narcotics, depressants, and stimulants, can and do cause different reactions in the body.
The most common physical short-term effects of addiction are changes in appetite, heart rate, blood pressure, hangovers, and withdrawals. These changes can be reversed with sobriety, support, addiction therapy and treatment.
The mental side of addiction can be even more devastating than the physical. Addiction causes the brain to rewire itself, to create new pathways and dependencies.
This means behaviors, moods, and personalities can be altered dramatically. It can result in hallucinations, paranoia, irritability, depression, and even temporary psychosis.
Long-Term Effects of Addiction
Long-term effects of addiction cannot be undone. These consequences are mental and health issues that an individual will have to contend with even if the addiction is defeated.
Some common long-term effects include major depressions, schizophrenia, early-onset Alzheimer’s, and issues with major bodily organs like the heart, stomach, kidney, and liver. Many of these issues require lifetime care, treatment, and support.
Addiction and Relationships
Addiction also threatens the personal relationships of many individuals. The biggest issue in relationships with those who are addicted is their focus. An addiction consumes the mind and entire life of a person so much so that there is no room for other relationships.
Family members of addicted people often are forced to cope with trust issues, aggressive and even violent, physical outbursts, and a general lack of healthy connection. Without that connection, people can feel like they are simply being used or taken advantage of.
These feelings don’t discriminate. An addicted person can and will cause these issues in any relationship with any person in their life. The most vulnerable and endangered group in an addiction situation is children.
Children, whether they are the daughter, son, or sibling of an addict, are forced to cope with and navigate incredibly tough situations. These children often see and experience negative situations. These situations cause very serious, damaging effects.
Children who have close contact and relationships with addicted individuals can have trouble developing and maintaining relationships, have poor academic performance, and may suffer from addiction themselves.
It’s important to talk to kids about alcohol and other addictive substances. These discussions should be done with care and age-appropriate information, but they cannot be neglected. Children should be aware of the dangers these substances present to themselves and the people they love.
Effects of Addiction on Finances
The final area of concern with addiction is financial. Getting and keeping finances under control can be difficult in the best of circumstances. Accomplishing that while battling addiction is nearly impossible.
Not only does it cost money to support an addiction, but it can have a negative effect on a person’s work habit. If their work habits suffer too much, it’s possible they will lose their job. Without a job, financial life spins out of control.
But finances are more than simply bringing home a paycheck. A person’s financial life includes providing for a family, but it also includes balancing and paying bills for food, shelter, transportation, and medicine.
Within each of these categories are smaller, more detailed pieces that can be easily forgotten or overlooked. These details can even further drain the financial resources of an individual who is struggling.
Take transportation, for example. Transportation isn’t just the purchase price of a car and gas to make it go, but it also includes extra expenses like insurance.
Effects of Addiction on Insurance
Car insurance can be expensive and, in some cases, hard to come by. This is especially true for individuals who have been convicted of a DUI. This is a very real possibility for those who suffer from addiction.
These types of convictions increase the rates exponentially. The increase is a result of the risk an insurance company will take on a driver with this kind of record. How and when an insurance company finds out about a DUI, however, depends on the state and the selected insurance company.
A handful of states don’t require an SR-22 form. This form is completed by your insurance company and notifies the state that you have insurance coverage. It also allows an insurance company to legally increase your rates and premiums. If you live in a state that doesn’t require this form, it can result in a few years of cheaper rates.
Addiction is serious. It is life altering, possibly life crushing. Even those who don’t suffer from addiction, but are simply associated with it can suffer catastrophic effects.
The good news, however, is that addiction can be overcome and a new life is possible. Every element negatively affected by addiction can be repaired. And it’s all worth the fight.
Laura Gunn researches and writes for the car insurance comparison site, CarInsuranceComparison.com. She and her family are no strangers to addiction and understand the devastation it can cause.
