Ksa
Ex-Bluelighter
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2010
- Messages
- 2,095
Hello,
I wish to comment on Dr. Phil's way to handle people like Alexandra and others who are into substance use. I just saw a show where a girl came out of jail in order to be on the show where she could receive therapy and reunite with her family. I find that there is an incompatibility between the addict's substance of choice and Dr. Phil's therapy methods towards the addict.
Alexandra was known to use methamphetamine. The girl who came out of jail was known to use Heroin and Xanax. The two girls could not be more different, yet, Dr. Phil bashes the girl who is in Xanax withdrawal, who faces severe panic attacks, despair and depression, and is surprisingly kind to Alexandra who's methamphetamine withdrawal causes to be manipulative, calculative and mean.
Methamphetamine causes an increase in extracellular dopamine that is identical to the euphoria a girl experiences when being loved by her ideal male partner or the love a mother feels for her babies. Telling Alexandra to get off the drugs awakens all sort of negative reactions, similar to the protective reaction a mother has when defending her babies. Simply asking her to get off the drugs and adopt a healthy way of life is severely counter productive because all her dopamine cycle is working against her.
I am not sure if Dr. Phil's behavior is a result of a deep understanding of brain chemistry, or a will to please the American audience who is totally ignorant with respect to such issues and who feel an urge to crucify anyone who does things differently. All I know is that the girl who came out of jail to attend the show was nearly suicidal and she did not get proper therapy during the show.
It is also notable that methamphetamine is known to induce paranoia even in doses as low as 20mg/day. The substance user feels insecure and is under the impression that she is being watched. Showing Alexandra videos of her truck being in front of someone's home and such can only worsen things and it's why she completely closed up and denied everything, because all her fears and paranoia proved to be true. From that point she is lost, there's nothing anyone can do to get into her head.
I believe that Harm Reduction when it comes to drug use is based on truth. Telling someone he will grow hair in his palm from masturbating never stopped anyone from doing so. The fact that her mom's sister died from liver failure due to alcohol does not imply in any way that Alexandra will too die from methamphetamine. The worst mistake a therapist can make is to take the addict for an idiot. Some addicts are idiots, like the girl who came out of jail, and others are not. Alexandra knows methamphetamine will not harm her liver because she knows that it is actually medication for ADHD labeled as Desoxyn, that was tested for close to 100 years to patients and no such liver failures were observed.
Substance addiction is very complicated and it's not something out of which one can make a circus on TV for people to comment, judge and laugh. It cannot be treated with general statements like "drugs will kill you" or "you are hurting your family". The psychological addict knows she is hurting her family.
Ultimately, drug problems are the direct outcome of society's refusal to provide an outlet to the general population and to understand the means for delivering such outlet. During WW2, tobacco was mass produced to supply the army, but it was done so in the most harmful nicotine delivery mode possible: the cigarette. I can only suspect that the reason behind it was to withdraw it from the market after the war due to health side effects, when it was no longer needed.
People need an outlet to forget about what their wife is doing to them, what their kids are doing to them, what their boss is doing to them, what their friends are doing to them. Those poor people need a moment of peace and joy. If society does not provide means for Yoga and meditation, then at least it should do research to come up with a 100% safe drug that is more euphoric than the unsafe drugs that can give these poor, stressed and overworked souls a moment of peace in their life.
Why have no compassion for those poor people who are just victims of society's own mismanagement?
Here's the answer: Because the dopamine cycle of every American must be wired into buying things they don't need and forcefully, working countless hours in order to afford them. It's what drives the economy. If someone meditates in his basement and acquires such skill that he can feel pure bliss and relaxation through that alone, he doesn't need a fancier car, a larger house or a bigger garden. And that is bad for economy. It's bad for progress.
What drug addicts try to do is to obtain the pure bliss that indian gurus achieve isolated in their temples, and society created the perfect setup to ensure that they fail miserably, so that in the end, progress wins.
Cheers,
Dan
I wish to comment on Dr. Phil's way to handle people like Alexandra and others who are into substance use. I just saw a show where a girl came out of jail in order to be on the show where she could receive therapy and reunite with her family. I find that there is an incompatibility between the addict's substance of choice and Dr. Phil's therapy methods towards the addict.
Alexandra was known to use methamphetamine. The girl who came out of jail was known to use Heroin and Xanax. The two girls could not be more different, yet, Dr. Phil bashes the girl who is in Xanax withdrawal, who faces severe panic attacks, despair and depression, and is surprisingly kind to Alexandra who's methamphetamine withdrawal causes to be manipulative, calculative and mean.
Methamphetamine causes an increase in extracellular dopamine that is identical to the euphoria a girl experiences when being loved by her ideal male partner or the love a mother feels for her babies. Telling Alexandra to get off the drugs awakens all sort of negative reactions, similar to the protective reaction a mother has when defending her babies. Simply asking her to get off the drugs and adopt a healthy way of life is severely counter productive because all her dopamine cycle is working against her.
I am not sure if Dr. Phil's behavior is a result of a deep understanding of brain chemistry, or a will to please the American audience who is totally ignorant with respect to such issues and who feel an urge to crucify anyone who does things differently. All I know is that the girl who came out of jail to attend the show was nearly suicidal and she did not get proper therapy during the show.
It is also notable that methamphetamine is known to induce paranoia even in doses as low as 20mg/day. The substance user feels insecure and is under the impression that she is being watched. Showing Alexandra videos of her truck being in front of someone's home and such can only worsen things and it's why she completely closed up and denied everything, because all her fears and paranoia proved to be true. From that point she is lost, there's nothing anyone can do to get into her head.
I believe that Harm Reduction when it comes to drug use is based on truth. Telling someone he will grow hair in his palm from masturbating never stopped anyone from doing so. The fact that her mom's sister died from liver failure due to alcohol does not imply in any way that Alexandra will too die from methamphetamine. The worst mistake a therapist can make is to take the addict for an idiot. Some addicts are idiots, like the girl who came out of jail, and others are not. Alexandra knows methamphetamine will not harm her liver because she knows that it is actually medication for ADHD labeled as Desoxyn, that was tested for close to 100 years to patients and no such liver failures were observed.
Substance addiction is very complicated and it's not something out of which one can make a circus on TV for people to comment, judge and laugh. It cannot be treated with general statements like "drugs will kill you" or "you are hurting your family". The psychological addict knows she is hurting her family.
Ultimately, drug problems are the direct outcome of society's refusal to provide an outlet to the general population and to understand the means for delivering such outlet. During WW2, tobacco was mass produced to supply the army, but it was done so in the most harmful nicotine delivery mode possible: the cigarette. I can only suspect that the reason behind it was to withdraw it from the market after the war due to health side effects, when it was no longer needed.
People need an outlet to forget about what their wife is doing to them, what their kids are doing to them, what their boss is doing to them, what their friends are doing to them. Those poor people need a moment of peace and joy. If society does not provide means for Yoga and meditation, then at least it should do research to come up with a 100% safe drug that is more euphoric than the unsafe drugs that can give these poor, stressed and overworked souls a moment of peace in their life.
Why have no compassion for those poor people who are just victims of society's own mismanagement?
Here's the answer: Because the dopamine cycle of every American must be wired into buying things they don't need and forcefully, working countless hours in order to afford them. It's what drives the economy. If someone meditates in his basement and acquires such skill that he can feel pure bliss and relaxation through that alone, he doesn't need a fancier car, a larger house or a bigger garden. And that is bad for economy. It's bad for progress.
What drug addicts try to do is to obtain the pure bliss that indian gurus achieve isolated in their temples, and society created the perfect setup to ensure that they fail miserably, so that in the end, progress wins.
Cheers,
Dan