ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the narrators who spoke about an escalation of the adverse effects of drug misuse over a prolonged period which had not prompted anything more than a temporary desire for change. The narrators recall their experiences of the particular act of stopping which started their long-term abstinence. Prior to drug stopping, an escalating series of physical and emotional traumata had caused people to plummet into ever worsening situations in their lives. They all experienced severe adverse physical effects of their addictions, including severe withdrawal symptoms when they couldn't top up sufficiently. Some experienced reverse tolerance, where they were simply unable to drink or use as much of the drug as before without feeling seriously ill. Most of the narrators made more than one attempt at stopping before they actually succeeded, whereas others stopped dead and never lapsed or relapsed.
