Stimulant Addiction

Stimulants create a cycle of feelings and behavior in users. When someone is high on amphetamines, he or she feels invincible, happy, and alert. But after those feelings fade, the person crashes and feels depressed, anxious, and nervous. In order to feel good again, he or she will take more stimulants and then crash again. That's the cycle: get high, crash, get high, crash.

This cycle of getting high and crashing puts a person on the road to addiction. Addiction is when a person can't function—on both a physical and a psychological level—without something. Once a person starts using stimulants, his or her body will need more and more. Soon, the craving for stimulants will take control of the person's life.

Addiction can be both physical and psychological. A user can psychologically depend on the high brought on by stimulants. A person can become physically addicted because he or she develops a tolerance to the drug, needing larger and larger doses in order to get the same high.

People sometimes use stimulants over and over without stopping—even to sleep. Users call this “going on a run” or “tweaking.” When they finally do stop using, they come down off the high even harder. Then they can become very angry, hostile, and depressed.