Drug, alcohol, and gambling are they bad habits, promiscuity, character defects? An accident or a pattern? Did it start suddenly or does it have roots? Can it end suddenly by itself, or is it a “cross” that you will have to bear all your life? You’ve probably asked yourself these questions more than once…
This problem has existed for so long that mankind’s accumulated knowledge and experience convincingly tell us that a drug addict, an alcoholic and a person addicted to gambling are people who have a chronic, severe disease called INDEPENDENCE.
But everyone is an addict for some reason, you may argue. Where is the line that separates habit from disease? Addiction to drugs, alcohol or games completely dominates the person, causes deep personal changes and adversely affects all aspects of human life (physical, psychological, social and spiritual) leading to a logical outcome. And the outcome is complete personal degradation, disability, prison, and, unfortunately, an inevitable early death.
Let us consider a typical path of an addict.
Sooner or later the person who uses alcohol or drugs necessarily faces various problems (health deterioration, conflicts with relatives, lack of money, difficulties at work, studies, etc.). Then there is a desire to control the use, to reduce the dose, to switch to a “lighter” drug etc. After several unsuccessful attempts to do this and when the number of problems exceeds a “critical level”, the addict finally comes to the conclusion that it is IMPOSSIBLE to CONTROL consumption and that the only way to get out of this vicious circle is to STOP INVOLVING. Then, as a rule, he starts promising his family and himself, “I won’t use anymore! I will pull myself together! I will find the willpower!”. But since addiction is a disease, not a bad habit, a breakdown sooner or later inevitably occurs. What happens next? An addicted person, under the pressure of accumulated problems (with health, family, finances, work, etc.) goes to the clinic and enters “detox”. As a rule, his goal is simply to “break down”, to relieve unpleasant physical symptoms that occur when he stops using, and only at the expense of detoxification to recover. After all, both the addict himself and his relatives want to believe that only physical indisposition prevents him from being sober and “getting his life back on track”. In practice, however, this does not work. The addict resumes drug use – again detoxification – again unfulfilled promises and hopes – another breakdown – etc. The addict and their loved ones may go around this circle for years, until they realize that it is impossible to solve the complex problem of DEEPness by relieving acute withdrawal symptoms or a hangover. Let’s take a closer look at this.
It is important to know that the withdrawal period is divided into two stages:
1.Acute, depending on the dose and the substance, from 3 to 10 days (hospital detoxification under the “classic scheme” or BOD).
During this period there are such phenomena as mood swings, “emotional swinging”, irritability, depression, insomnia, “dry withdrawal”, memory disorders, absent-mindedness, intrusive thoughts and dreams about using, “irresistible” craving for drugs, alcohol or games. Against this background the addict inevitably faces life problems resulting from his use, previous social environment, “friends” who use, various trigger situations (i.e. addictive ones) and lack of sobriety skills. All these factors in aggregate lead sooner or later to a natural relapse of the disease, i.e. a return to drug or alcohol use with 100% probability. Taking all this into account, it becomes clear why even those addicts who have passed the stage of detoxification, seemingly understanding the need to give up drugs and sincerely wishing to get rid of addiction, return to the use, and then to the clinic again and again.
What happens next? Gradually, after repeating the “detox” scenario for many times (those who manage to survive, and usually 2-3 out of 10) they come to the realization that the problem of addiction is much more serious than just physical discomfort related to stopping drug use. This is because the foundation of any addiction is SUSPENSION psychologically. The psychological component of addiction includes:
- Psychological personality traits that once led to the initiation of drug use and now contribute to the development and continuation of the disease
- a rigid false attitude developed in the process of using that any problems and difficulties “can easily be solved” by using, low stress-resistance
- “selective memory” – an addict quickly forgets the negative consequences of his or her use, however severe they may have been
- Craving – recurrent strong desire to “get high”
- Obsessive thoughts and memories of their drug use, which seem to “pop into their head” as if “by themselves
- dreams related to drug use
- Inadequate emotional reactions (aggression, anger, irritability, boredom, apathy etc.)
- and many other things…
