Five Things You Should Know About Addiction
November 21, 2024
Addiction is very complicated
Hopefully, we have moved past the simplistic idea that addiction is just a choice, it is, but it is so much more than that. At some point, it rewires the brain in ways that show up as chronic disease. It’s a habit. It’s an act of worship. It’s an effort to self-correct and survive. It’s an attempt at self-repair that fails. I can keep going on.
There are two great definitions of addiction. One is more clinical, “Addiction is a bio-psycho-social disorder which demonstrates itself in any behavior that a person enjoys or finds relief in and therefore craves in the short term. This behavior results in negative consequences in the long term, yet the individual doesn’t give up the behavior despite those negative consequences.”
The other is more practical, “Addiction happens when a specific need collides with a certain experience.” See the next observation to learn why we can have hope.
Addiction can be overcome.
The Brain is an amazing organ and can overcome even the most adverse circumstances. Relating to addiction a characteristic of the brain called “Neuroplasticity” is a God send. Re-Wire | We Chose Love explains how you can maximize this characteristic in your recovery. Two great books about how the brain learns and un learns are: Hijacked Brains: The Experience and Science of Chronic Addiction by Henrietta Robin Barnes. Another is by Maia Szalavitz called “Unbroken Brain”.
You will need the help of people who really care.
You can overcome anything that life throws at you … but you will not overcome it alone!
Your addicted loved one needs to know you care.
I have never seen this more dramatically revealed than in a mini documentary called “Alli and Johnny” by CNN. These two books by Johann Hari will help you see addiction in a more compelling way: The first is “Chasing the Scream”. The Second is Lost Connections.
Recovery is better than whatever you think you have now.
It is shocking how far addiction can take people, and sadly, how much abuse a human being can inflict on their own bodies, Few books capture this more clearly than “Chasing the Scream” by Johann Hari and the heart wrenching book by Gabor Mate: “In the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts”
Losing you is hard on the ones that matter. The ones that love you! I do not think any statement better demonstrates this than a quote from the book “Terry: My Daughter’s Life-and-Death Struggle with Alcoholism”. I read the book shortly after Lauren passed away. It was profound, very helpful, and for me, painful and healing at the same time.
Two powerful quotes from the book are:
“Eleanor and I took off for the University of Innsbruck, Austria, where I was a guest lecturer for the next six weeks. Terry returned to Madison with her daughters. We had very little contact with her during the summer and early fall. Indeed, we had decided—with the encouragement of a counselor—that it might be best for both Terry and for us not to be deeply involved for a time. There has not been a day since Terry’s death that I have not anguished over our decision. I regret every phone call not made, every letter not written, every missed opportunity to be with her and to share her pain.” I am grateful we made the choice to work at supporting LaLa while doing the best we could to not enable her.
The second quote speaks to what I said above, I am reminded of it every day: “Alcoholics and Drug addicts are hard to live with, but they are much harder to live without.”
NEW FEATURES COMING IN 2025
Please be sure to try out our updated search feature. Since we began on July 1, 2018 we have hosted nearly 200 articles to encourage, guide and offer hope. With all that helpful information it can be daunting to find specific topics. In Q1 2025 and beyond we will be implementing some new features along with helpful design changes to make finding the information you need much easier. The first is explained below.
POWERFUL NEW SEARCH CAPABILITY
Just this week we updated our in site search feature to help you find exactly what you need. For example if I want to learn more about the CRAFT (Community Reinforcement and Family Training) approach just type “Craft” in the search box and BAM you have an easy to read list of all the posts that speak about the subject. Each includes a brief in context, and short exert about the post. Looking for information on anxiety? Type “anxiety” in the search dialogue and instantly you have several clear options. Give it a try!
The info for what’s coming in 2025 sounds great. Looking forward to reading more then. Thanks for all you do to keep people informed on how they can get the help for themselves and their loved ones!