There is a common factual theme that one might hear about addiction; addiction kills. Whether it be an overdose, alcohol poisoning, sending yourself into cardiac arrest, a drunk driving accident, or suicide in addiction, it pains me to see how many lives are lost because of this insidious disease. When you widen the search to other addictions, the body count goes higher. According to the CDC approximately 88,000 deaths can be attributed to excessive alcohol use each year in the US.1 Also, they say that 105 people die each day due to a drug overdose.2 And that number was given in 2011 I am unfortunately sure that number has increased since then. Add in the fact that withdrawing from benzos and alcohol alone can kill you, and deaths from cardiac arrest and drunk driving. This number is too high. But there is another kind of death that a lot of people don’t look at, which the rate is extremely high; suicide in addiction.
You might be thinking an article about suicide in addiction is very dark, but someone had to write about it. I’m in recovery and see so many friends and people I know lose their lives to addiction. Just last weekend I found out a dear friend had committed suicide in addiction, giving in to the demon. It’s easy to see how addiction physically kills. Addiction is not prejudice, just within the past 12 months there have been multiple celebrity deaths. But let’s look at the other way addiction kills, internally. Addiction is a 3 part disease, and at the core of that is this internal spiritual malady. This disconnect that makes the addicted individual feel like they have lost all hope. Every addict has wrestled with this feeling, and the addicted mind convinces the person that the high will be their solution. Of course any sane-minded person, around alcohol or drugs, can tell you that this is a lie. But when you are engulfed by the disease it is the realest thing to you. There is a place and time when an addict wakes up to a world where they feel that they cannot live with or without their substance. For many years they felt they couldn’t live without it, like I said, it was their solution. But once they have been beaten down by addiction, they become tired of living with it. A lot of times this place brings such desperation, and the addict is convinced they can’t go on; this is the where suicide in addiction occurs. It doesn’t help when society has placed a label on addicts as being “bad people” and judges instead of reaching out a helping hand. This place, however, can bring much hope when the addict is offered a sufficient solution.
In short, addiction is fatal and the addict isn’t choosing to live like that. I mean who asks for a fatal illness? People are dying everyday from suicide in addiction, and they can be helped. If you know someone that might be suffering, reach out for help. They might not be voicing the pain and agony they are experiencing deep within. You don’t have to wait for them to say that they are ready to get help, the disease might wrongfully take their life before then. Help is here and is ready. Together we can decrease the numbers of suicide in addiction that I gave you. Call us today or contact us, and let us help you.
References
1- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Alcohol-Related Disease Impact (ARDI). Atlanta, GA:CDC.
2- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Highlights Of the 2011 Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) findings on drug-related emergency department visits. The DAWN Report. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; 2013. Available from URL: http://www.samhsa.gov/data/2k13/DAWN127/sr127-DAWN-highlights.htm
