The answer is, yes, cocaine abuse can change your personality. To understand how this can happen, it’s important to know how cocaine affects the body.
Cocaine is a highly addictive drug derived from the coca plant. This drug is a stimulant that affects how the brain and central nervous system work, resulting in a range of side effects. When you snort or inject cocaine, it quickly finds its way to the brain where it disrupts neurotransmitters. The result is the brain becomes flooded with dopamine or the body’s “feel-good” chemical.
When this happens, you immediately experience what is known as a euphoric high. This is accompanied by heightened alertness and an increase in energy. Cocaine revs up physical and mental processes in the body leading to a rapid pulse, higher body temperature, increased breathing, and an increase in blood pressure. At this point, you may feel invigorated, energized, and invincible.
Unfortunately, the high wears off after a while and you crash. The crash is marked by uncomfortable symptoms including paranoia, depression, and anxiety. The initial rush is replaced by sluggishness and fatigue and you may have intense cravings for the drug.
Personality Changes Because of Cocaine Abuse
Now that we know how cocaine affects the body, let’s see what impact this will have on your personality.
- During the initial high, cocaine’s stimulating effect may transform you into what seems to be a different person. If you are normally shy, it may make you feel more confident, talkative, and outgoing. A bored person may seem more excited and the life of the party while a depressed one may feel on top of the world.
- As the high wears off, your personality may change once again. From being outgoing, talkative, and confident, you may now become withdrawn, irritable and hostile. You may find yourself picking arguments and fights with those close to you.
- Cocaine addiction can also change your personality in the long term. Since cocaine use is illegal, you’ll have to hide your habit from your family, loved ones, and colleagues, causing you to become secretive, isolated, and dishonest. Additionally, cocaine addiction is an expensive habit to maintain and you may end up stealing or engaging in other criminal behavior to feed your habit.
We Can Help
If you or a loved one is struggling with cocaine abuse, we can help.
The Findlay® Recovery Center in Findlay, Ohio offers affordable drug addiction treatment programs to help those dealing with substance abuse. We also have tailor-made treatment programs for those dealing with alcohol addiction. We take care to provide a safe and supportive environment for those in recovery, along with experienced, professional, and knowledgeable staff to help clients beat addiction. Contact us today to learn more about our addiction treatment programs and to find out how we can help you on your recovery journey. We’ll be glad to help you.
