Addiction
What Is Addiction?
Addiction may be diagnosed as a substance abuse disorder (alcohol, legal drugs, illegal drugs), or a process addiction disorder (food, internet, sex, gambling, debt) or a mental health disorder (depression, bipolar, mania, borderline).
A person struggling with addiction is dealing with a complex brain disease that compels them to continue their drinking or substance abuse even when faced with damaging and harmful consequences. These substances directly impact the brain itself. The brain itself sends signals that the craving (of alcohol or drugs) is the most important focus. As this need intensifies, a person may also develop a higher tolerance through increased use. Thus, more and more of the drug or alcohol is needed to satisfy the craving.
After years studying the brain, doctors understand that an addict’s brain changes.Because of their substance abuse, the addict’s decision making, judgement, memory and impulse control are severely affected. These changes can remain long after the abuse stops, which can be equally frustrating for the addict and those who surround him/her.
Podcast: How To Deal With Sudden Grief After Losing A Loved One To Addiction
Causes of Addiction?
There is no single cause for addiction. Rather, a large number of factors are involved including: genetics, biology, social, psychological and environmental factors are involved. There is no one personality type or defining characteristic that means a person is going to suffer from alcohol or substance abuse, though mental illness does often co occur with addiction.
Chronic pain has increasingly become a factor with addiction. When a person feels pain for longer than 90 days it is considered chronic. This may lead to a prescription intended for pain management that leads to substance abuse.
Another important factor to consider is trauma. Trauma can take many different forms such as verbal, physical and mental abuse, divorce, death, etc. Trauma created intense feelings of discomfort and may cause people to turn to substances like alcohol and/or drugs in an effort to become numb.
Addiction and Denial
Denial is a common struggle with addiction. People may spend years denying how unhealthy and deep their habits have become. They find excuses that justify their behavior and ignore the advice of concerned loved ones watching them struggle with addiction.
Watching someone you love battle addiction is challenging. It’s painful to watch someone whose health continues to decline. It’s frustrating to find solutions for a person who doesn’t acknowledge the problem. Ultimately though, it can simply be exhausting as we feel drained emotionally, mentally, physically and sometimes even spiritually. Family members and friends are often “tapped out” and may grow resentful of the person they are most concerned about; this is why an interventionist can be crucial. Denial is a powerful tool used by the alcoholic/addict to allow the behavior to continue. Family members often use it too to hide the severity of the issue.
Is an intervention necessary?
When attempting to talk with someone in denial, it must be done while they are sober. The conversation may be difficult for them to have and hard for them to hear what you have to say. When under the influence of drugs or alcohol, they may be unfocused, inattentive, or just outright angry. When that happens, family members may become sidetracked or focused on other issues such as financial problems. The attention then shifts off the individual and conversations take wrong turns. These attempts are generally not productive steps toward recovery.
Professional interventionists have the training, experience, and knowledge needed to keep the focus on the person struggling with substance abuse disorders or mental health disorders. An interventionist will have spent time collecting information that gives a robust portrait of the identified loved one, and will guide the intervention accordingly. There are several different approaches to an intervention and a trained interventionist will know the most beneficial way to work with each individual. The ultimate goal of an intervention is to help both families and those struggling with addiction find healing.
Addiction and Stigma
Despite research findings and development in understanding addiction, there remains a stigma around the disease. Some people still consider addiction a moral failing or an inability to pull oneself up by the bootstraps. This thinking can hinder someone in recovery because that stigma leaves a mark of shame, disgrace and disapproval.
Those struggling with addiction often face two stigmas: a self based stigma and a community based one. A self based stigma is a personal sense of guilt and shame those struggling with addiction feel about who they are and the things that they have done while in midst of the disease. A community based stigma can come from the surrounding community: families, workplace, any small groups. These may be roadblocks during recovery but they are surmountable as people are so much more than their disease. As a professional interventionist and clinician, I believe in a realistic optimism that aids recovery and allows people to operate from a strength based perspective. I believe a person is the sum of their parts and not just their disorder.
Articles About Addiction
Were the Holidays Bad for You? Start the New Year Off with The Gift of Treatment
Families so often want to wait till after the holidays to have their loved ones go to treatment. Through the years I have often wondered what the wisdom is in that. Truth is most folks who have a loved one with a substance use disorder, process disorder or chronic...
When Too Much Is Not Enough – The Death of Tony Hsieh
The tragic death of Zappos founder who aimed to Deliver us Happiness, Tony Hsieh is alas just another example of how wealth and power does not preclude others from being surrounded by folks who feed one’s addiction in exchange for goods and services. As Forbes...
What Do Blake Shelton, Keith Urban and I All Have In Common?
Well I hope that got your attention! As many of you know: I am a huge country fan I took time out of my busy schedule to take photos with Blake Shelton and Keith Urban at the CMAS a few years ago I want you to be “Happy" Anywhere in Covid And to remember when “We...
Are you sending a thank you note to Cannabis Producers and Sellers: A Question of Ethics
I have been writing about marijuana for many years And it is no secret I am not a fan of marijuana consumption and am baffled by the many, many clients I serve who think its ok for their loved one to use while locked inside their bedroom losing themselves. I don’t...
It’s All About The Bacon
Now you might ask what is a nice Jewish (half Catholic -half Jewish girl) writing about the Bacon. This morning I was sitting here wondering what new thing I might write about that can help us all . And suddenly, I smelled the sweet savory smell of bacon floating...
How Addiction Recovery Changes Intimate Relationships
Being in recovery from alcohol or other drugs does not guarantee that you and your husband, wife, partner, son or daughter will not face issues in your relationship. Couples often come to us seeking help because everything else they have tried has not worked. It can...
Addiction: Covid-19 & Relapse
Covid-19 has brought a new set of parameters to us. With Self-isolation, no in-person support networks, living, working – being furloughed etc. For the most part living in the same closed quarters that come with social distancing, it is no wonder that one may relapse...
What Is Care Management in Addiction Treatment?
I thought long and hard about how we offer services to the families we serve. We take pride in going the extra mile with are clients in providing Care Management services. In addition to Intervention and Safe Escort Services, here are some of the other services of we...
Follow Me Breaking Up With Your Addiction
Uncle Kracker had a hit song that he wrote in 2001, describing his love affair with heroin. Sadly, he also had made the news in 2007 for an arrest that indicated he may not have been completely over all the trials and tribulations he would face on his journey. And he...
Additional Resources On Addiction:
American Society for Addiction Medicine
Orange County Alcoholics Anonymous
Cocaine Anonymous World Service
Narcotics Anonymous World Services
National Council on Alcoholism & Drug Dependence, Inc.
National Institute on Drug Abuse
Nicotine Anonymous World Service
Apps to Help with Addiction Recovery
The Addictive Personality
Craig Nakken
Under the Influence
Milam & K. Ketcham
Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.’s “Big Book”)
Alcoholics Anonymous
Russel Brand
Navigating Grace
Jeff Jay
Moments of Clarity
Christopher Crawford Kennedy
Broken
William Moyers
Falling Up: A Memoir of Renewal
Louise Stanger
Learn To Thrive
Louise Stanger
Does The Noise in My Head Bother You?
Steven Tyler
Facing Co-Dependence
Pia Mellody
Choice-Making
Sharon Wegscheider
How to Break Your Addiction to a Person
Howard M. Halpern
One Day at a Time in Al-Anon
Al-Anon
Enough Already!
Bob Tyler
Living With an Alcoholic
Al-Anon
The Parallel Process
Krissy Pozatek
The Alcoholic Family in Recovery
Stephanie Brown PhD
Speed
Stephanie Brown PhD