Stress and addiction go hand-in-hand for many reasons. When it comes to students, stress and addiction can have an even stronger relationship.
Students—especially on a collegiate level—are constantly bombarded with changes and challenges they may have never had to face before. It’s an exciting time of life, but the stress of it all can become overwhelming at times.
It’s no secret that the drug addiction rates in this country have skyrocketed. Young people are some of the most susceptible, and many are turning toward various types of drugs to manage their stress levels.
Normal Stress vs. Chronic Stress
Everyone experiences stress on a regular basis. It’s a reaction to a specific situation that can leave you feeling overwhelmed. That’s considered “normal.”
Chronic stress, on the other hand, is more prominent and experienced more often.
When you’re in college, experiencing new things for the first time, you may be more at risk for chronic stress. Juggling classes, relationships, friendships, extracurricular activities, and independence, your mind and body can easily feel overloaded.
Stress itself can cause negative symptoms like headaches, fatigue, or even nausea. But, it’s how you respond to the stress in your life that makes a difference.
Using Drugs to Manage Stress
When your body experiences stress, it goes into “fight or flight” mode. You then have to make a decision on how you’re going to handle it. This is the point where many young people turn toward substance abuse.
By taking a substance, you’re able to eliminate the feelings of stress and anxiety for a while. If you’re dealing with chronic stress, addiction can happen rather quickly. Mostly, because you’ll want those negative symptoms and overwhelming feelings to be gone all the time. So, you’ll turn to drugs more often.
When you’re under a lot of emotional stress, you tend to lose control of your impulses, too. So, it becomes easier over time to reach for some type of harmful substance without even thinking about it. Unfortunately, that adds fuel to the addiction, making it harder to escape your drug habit over time.
Finding Better Ways to Cope
Using drugs to manage stress is simply a way to “escape” for a while, and to dissociate yourself from the overload of emotions you might be feeling.
This isn’t the best solution or form of “treatment” when it comes to managing stress. Thankfully, there are many healthier options you can take to manage your stress levels and beat your addiction.
If you’re starting to feel overwhelmed by the stress, don’t hesitate to ask for help. A strong support system can make a big difference in managing anxiety and coping with stress. Things like exercise, meditation, and deep breathing can also be effective.
The sooner you recognize your coping mechanisms for stress aren’t healthy, the better. As you start to utilize other options, you can begin to steer yourself away from drug use.
Seeking Professional Help for Stress and Addiction
One of the most productive and effective things you can do to combat stress and addiction is to take part in addiction counseling.
This is especially effective if your substance use has gotten out of hand and you can’t manage it on your own. Getting to the root and underlying cause of your stress can make it easier to deal with your addiction.
As a college student, it’s not uncommon to turn to a quick fix to combat your stress levels. But, turning to different substances will quickly lead you down a path that is difficult to escape.
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The connection between student stress and addiction may not come as a surprise. However, that doesn’t mean it’s a connection that has to keep getting stronger.
If you’re a college student struggling with addiction due to stress, please contact me. You can also visit hereto learn more about how I can help. Together, we can work on different coping mechanisms to help you manage your stress levels, and deal with the effects of addiction.