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Statistics:
•	46.3 million people aged 12 or older (or 16.5 percent of the population) met the applicable DSM-5 criteria for having a substance use disorder in the past year, including 29.5 million people who were classified as having an alcohol use disorder and 24 million people who were classified as having a drug use disorder.

•	The percentage of people who were classified as having a past year substance use disorder, including alcohol use and/or drug use disorder, was highest among young adults aged 18 to 25 compared to youth and adults 26 and older.

•	In 2021, 94% of people aged 12 or older with a substance use disorder did not receive any treatment. Nearly all people with a substance use disorder who did not get treatment at a specialty facility did not think they needed treatment.

Drug Addiction and Changes to the Brain:
•	Alcohol and drug addiction disorder is a chronic condition that affects the brain and behavior. Drug use causes an inability to control the use of a substance. It may be related to other emotional or mental problems such as depression or anxiety.

•	When you take drugs, changes occur in your brain over time. These changes make an addictive person’s self-control which interferes with their ability to resist powerful urges to take drugs. This is why drug users can relapse. Relapse is the return to drugs after attempting to stop.

•	As time passes and the person continues drug use, the brain adjusts to the excess dopamine. The brain reduces the high that the person feels compared to the high they felt when first taking the drug. They might take more of the drug trying to achieve the same high. This effect is called tolerance.

•	Most drugs affect the brain’s reward circuit causing a euphoria or a high. The drugs immerse the brain with a chemical called dopamine. Lots of dopamine in the reward circuit causes the reinforcement of pleasurable but unhealthy activities like taking drugs. This leads people to repeat the drug use again and again.

•	Long-term use of drugs affects functions such as learning, judgment, decision making, stress, memory, and behavior.

•	A combination of genetics, environment, and developmental factors influence risk for addiction. See Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model.

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model
•	Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model is one of the most accepted explanations regarding the influence of social environments. It describes how a child develops within a series of interrelated systems. It states that the environment you grow up in affects every part of your life. The five systems are microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem.

•	The microsystem is the most influential environment in the theory. It is the environment that is closest to the child. It includes family members, teachers, daycare workers, and other caregivers. The model shows the interaction in and between these five systems. For example, a child must be studied in the context of the family system and the family needs to be understood within the broader community, societal culture, and values (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). The ecological systems theory shows that it is vital to note that an environment and its immediate settings actively shape the outcome of an individual’s life.

•	People do not live in isolation but rather within multifaceted structures that contain their immediate settings, social networks, and communities established in a wider social structure.

•	When it comes to drug-taking behavior, children are influenced mostly by their parents and immediate family systems, as well as peers, schools, and neighborhood influences. The ecological system’s theory can be used to take a closer look at the interactions and quality of relationships within the family systems, as well as the interactions in and between the other social systems on the lives of drug abusers.

Shady Pines Wellness Center in Ithaca, New York
If you’ve made the important decision to live a life free from drugs and alcohol, now you need to decide where you can experience the most support during your recovery. At our wellness center, we embrace a holistic approach that helps your mind, body, and spirit recover from the effects of addiction.

If your surroundings are as important to you as your recovery, you owe it to yourself to consider Shady Pines Wellness Center in Ithaca, New York. From your first encounter at Shady Pines, you’ll feel the welcome embrace of nature’s landscape. You’ll smell the fresh air away from the hustle and bustle of the city streets.

Shady Pines Wellness Center is an exclusive, serene estate where you can relax, reflect, and reinvigorate. You’ll know that Shady Pines is a place where healing can begin.

Upon entering Shady Pines, you’ll be greeted by staff that understand your circumstances. Our therapists are licensed and certified in their respective fields. Everyone is treated with dignity and respect. They will help you every step of the way as you embody the life you want to live and succeed in your recovery.

When you come to our wellness center, you will be detoxed and then you will enter the rehabilitation program. In the beginning of the program, it may be necessary to be detoxed safely and comfortably in order to reduce the discomfort caused by the elimination of drugs and/or alcohol from your system.

The drug and alcohol rehabilitation center allows an individual to receive quality care in a safe, comfortable, and compassionate environment. This is where you begin to work on the mental obsession with drugs and alcohol. You will address any underlying issues that lead to self-medicating with substances. The therapists and clients will discuss mental health issues such as depression and anxiety because quality addiction treatment must identify all aspects of someone’s life in order to deliver effective treatment.

For more information, call 718-555-1212