Opioid Misuse and Addiction

Risk Factors for Opioid Misuse

Although opioids can be highly addictive, not everyone who takes an opioid, prescribed or otherwise, will develop an addiction. Certain risk factors can make addiction more likely, like your genetics, environmental influences, and mental health conditions.

Genetics

Your genes can increase the chance of opioid addiction³. They don’t cause addiction, but slight variations and epigenetics (changes in how your body reads gene sequences) can make you more prone to opioid addiction. For example, variations in your mu-opioid receptors can alter how your reward system works—an integral part of developing an addiction.

Environmental Influences

Growing up in an environment that normalizes substance use can make addiction more likely. Stressful environments can, too, as substances can serve as a coping mechanism. People may also use substances to connect and fit in with peers⁴.

For example, a child who grows up with family members who drink heavily may get introduced to alcohol early on and view drinking as a way to connect with their loved ones. Someone who grows up in high-stress environments, like poverty or often witnessing domestic violence, may also turn to substance use as a way to cope with the ongoing strain. These types of environments can lead to the initiation of use, which can snowball into addiction.

Mental Health Conditions

Having a mental health condition like depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can make you more susceptible to addiction⁵. Someone may use substances to self-medicate⁶ the symptoms of their condition. For example, someone with anxiety may notice their prescription opioids gave them a sense of calm and well-being that made social interactions easier. Or, a stressed executive may find they can get through the day easier if they take heroin before work. 

Regular use for these reasons can bloom into an addiction. 

Signs of Opioid Use

If you suspect a friend or a loved one has started using opioids not as prescribed or procuring illicit opioids, you can look for key signs of opioid use⁷ and voice your concerns to them. This can start the process of getting treatment if and when they’re willing.

Physical Signs

• Seeming tired often, “out of it”
• Small pupils
• Disheveled appearance
• Track marks on their arms or legs and/or unseasonal clothes to hide them
• Sudden, unexplained loss of pain that previously impaired their functioning

Behavioral Signs

• Avoiding family and friends without adequate explanation
• Acting secretive about their belongings and activities
• A marked change in their attitude or personality
• They may lose their job or academic standing due to poor performance

Symptoms of Opioid Addiction

The symptoms of an opioid addiction may look similar to the signs of initial use. Their key differentiator is how greatly they affect someone’s day-to-day life. An addiction will rewrite someone’s priorities and motives, while regular use often doesn’t.

Job Loss and/or Financial Struggles

Fixating on using opioids can lead to neglecting work responsibilities, which may cause job loss and ensuing financial struggles. They may lose their home or need to sell personal belongings, like their car and jewelry, to keep paying for opioids. They might even resort to theft.

Health Complications

An opioid addiction can cause various health complications⁸, including weight loss, infection, and blood-borne diseases from unclean needles. You may notice they seem haggard and generally unwell.

People who regularly take opioids are also more likely to fall, get sick more often, and actually become more sensitive to pain.

Relationship Struggles

Someone with an opioid addiction may neglect personal relationships and friendships to either hide their use or spend more time on getting, taking, and coming down from opioids. Their relationships may fade and crumble as a result. 

Treatments for Opioid Use

Opioid addiction has many paths to recovery. 

Detox

Opioid treatment often starts with detox, which safely removes opioids from the body and allows it to return to homeostasis. Medications like buprenorphine⁹ and methadone¹⁰ can help people detox from opioids more comfortably and lessen cravings. Some people stay on these medications to enhance their recovery since they reduce the effects opioids have and make them pointless to take.

Rehab

Many residential rehabs offer detox and therapeutic care over the course of 28+ days. Rehabs aim to treat both the medical and emotional effects of opioid addiction, helping people address root issues and build practical relapse prevention skills.

A typical day in rehab includes 1:1 and group therapies, plus group activities and likely a peer step meeting or two. Depending on its location, some rehabs may offer daily activities or weekly outings, like hiking.

Outpatient

Outpatient programs offer intensive care with greater flexibility. You’ll attend therapy during the day but go home at night and have time for personal responsibilities. Many clinics also offer medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction recovery.

For example, you may go to outpatient treatment after work from 5-7 p.m. You’ll likely attend multiple group therapy sessions and focus on building and strengthening relapse prevention skills. A more intensive outpatient program is day treatment, which typically runs for 5-8 hours a day, 5-7 days a week. Intensive outpatient programs (IOPs) often include 3-5 days of weekly treatment for 2-3 hours daily. 

Continuing Support

Treatment for opioid addiction doesn’t end once your programs do—it can continue for years in aftercare and peer support programs. For example, you could attend regular 12-Step meetings like Narcotics Anonymous (NA) or secular SMART Recovery meetings. These keep you connected to others in recovery and provide accountability.

Ongoing therapy can support your healing, too. You can meet with a therapist on a regular cadence to discuss current events and keep working through issues identified in addiction treatment.

Find Opioid Rehabs

Opioid rehabs exist worldwide. They offer various approaches and levels of care, meaning you can find a rehab best suited to your needs and preferences. 
On Recovery.com, you can search for opioid rehabs by location, insurance type, level of care, and more. You can also see reviews, photos, pricing information, and read detailed descriptions of each center.