Can You Get Over an Addiction?

[ro4eva]

@ro- Oversimplifying addiction is not helpful in the long run. The fact that religion is still commingled into a lot of the recovery protocols available. In the 21st century people still believe an imaginary mythical deity is going to stop them from using. Also, when it is oversimplified great thinkers feel stuck on a single path instead of thinking about addiction in many different ways.

You're absolutely right, plain and simple. And if I gave the opposite impression, well, I never meant to.

What I do know for certain regarding addiction is that it is anything BUT simple, black and white, and addressable by way of a quick fix.

In my own case, I could argue that my drug addiction issue began when I was but a child. I was constantly being picked on in school; was sexually molested by a "loving" uncle on multiple occasions; was beaten pretty harshly by a father who never seemed happy about anything; was dragged to a Christian fundamentalist church on weekends and told that doing anything remotely fun and exciting in life could result in me being burned alive for eternity in a lake of fire; and I had no one to turn to for emotional support when I was hurting.

And once I began experimenting with drugs, and more specifically with MDMA, I noticed that I was temporarily freed of any physical and psychological torment. It was nothing but pure, unadulterated bliss for several hours at a time. Not that I recommend it to others, but how could I refuse such artificial happiness in the future? Thankfully, I didn't kill myself in the process, but I got awfully close.

Anyway, put simply, I'm trying to state that it's a very complex issue a few decades in the making. And for that reason, it's not as easy as snapping my fingers to stop using something I've been using as a coping mechanism for chronic pain (according to the logic of prohibitionists and drug warriors). But at the same time, the question of whether addiction is a bona fide disease or not is something I can not answer definitively.

Sorry - I'm babbling again. I'll shut up now

 

[belfort]

*sigh* addiction isn't a learning disorder...at least for me it isn't. Maybe for others it is.

yeah i also was confused with this statement..definitely not learning disorder..in my case it has to do with hijacked pleasure pathways and inability to feel pleasure without drugs..thats what keeps me going back to drugs again and again as full blown sobriety just doesnt work for people like me..

the failure rates are god awful across the board, we desperately need new treatments asap!

 

[manboychef]

You're absolutely right, plain and simple. And if I gave the opposite impression, well, I never meant to.

What I do know for certain regarding addiction is that it is anything BUT simple, black and white, and addressable by way of a quick fix.

In my own case, I could argue that my drug addiction issue began when I was but a child. I was constantly being picked on in school; was sexually molested by a "loving" uncle on multiple occasions; was beaten pretty harshly by a father who never seemed happy about anything; was dragged to a Christian fundamentalist church on weekends and told that doing anything remotely fun and exciting in life could result in me being burned alive for eternity in a lake of fire; and I had no one to turn to for emotional support when I was hurting.

And once I began experimenting with drugs, and more specifically with MDMA, I noticed that I was temporarily freed of any physical and psychological torment. It was nothing but pure, unadulterated bliss for several hours at a time. Not that I recommend it to others, but how could I refuse such artificial happiness in the future? Thankfully, I didn't kill myself in the process, but I got awfully close.

Anyway, put simply, I'm trying to state that it's a very complex issue a few decades in the making. And for that reason, it's not as easy as snapping my fingers to stop using something I've been using as a coping mechanism for chronic pain (according to the logic of prohibitionists and drug warriors). But at the same time, the question of whether addiction is a bona fide disease or not is not something I can not answer definitively.

Sorry - I'm babbling again. I'll shut up now

I was in a verbally and emotionally abusive environment. I can completely understand the feeling of misery and hopelessness that is alleviated by drugs. For me, at fifteen, the first time I shot morphine took away all the anger, misery, and self hate that was bottled up inside me.

It does become the one coping mechanism once you realize that it takes away, or makes it easier to accept, such negative feelings.