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Addiction
Before I start it is important as a parent or family member of an addict not to think “what did I do wrong, why is my family member an addict, …don’t blame yourself. It is imperative to focus on the future and helping the addict detox- to move from using into recovery. There will be time during recovery to work on why the addict began using
If you take the time to understand the disease of addiction it will greatly help everyone involved in the recovery process that includes the addict, family members, and possibly co-workers. You want to help establish a success recovery environment. Also, remember that relapsing is frequently part of recovery but that doesn’t mean an addict has to hit rock bottom before working on recovering.
In the beginning I just accepted the fact that addiction was a disease and moved on. During the past year I have read over 9 books trying to educate myself and better understand this disease that has affected our family.
The following excerpts are from: The Selfish Brain by Robert Dupont M.D.
Why is addiction a disease?
“There are two types of diseases acute (rapid onset and rapid progression of symptoms) and chronic (gradual onset of progressively more sever symptoms).
Addiction is a chronic disease…the time between physical health and obvious debilitation is a long and drawn out process. It is a chronic disease that the prospect of recurring relapse is high. Due to adaptation and compensation over time, a person changes his entire lifestyle and the entire spectrum of human actions on physical, psychological, behavioral and social levels. When the physical aspect of disease is treated (i.e. an addict stops using) without treating other aspects, the untreated levels induce relapse to the previous disease state. A total recovery program is essential- physical, psychological, and spiritual. If a person recovers physically but fails to recover psychologically, behaviorally, and socially, his illness will continue to limit him. Physical recovery alone is only partial recovery. Recovery is dependent upon a change of lifestyle.” Excerpts from Counseling for Relapse Prevention by Terence Gorski and Merlene Miller **1
Addiction is a complex, lifelong, incurable family disease. Dishonesty is at the heart of addiction.
One inescapable element of addiction is dishonesty. A person cannot be an addict without being a liar- to oneself, to those who care, and to the community at large.
Addicts, like other sick people i.e. diabetics, area not responsible for their diseases, they are fully responsible for their behaviors during every stage of the disease, including how to manage their illness.
Addiction produces reward by stimulating the brain’s pleasure centers. As long as a behavior produces right now pleasure, it is repeated, regardless of the long-term consequences. When the brain’s reward or pleasure centers are stimulated, the brain sends out powerful signals to repeat the pleasure-producing behaviors. The brain knows only ‘more’ and ‘no more’ or ‘on’ and ‘off.’ The selfish brain does not know the importance of delayed gratification.
Addiction is a complex biopsychosocial disease, meaning that is has biological, psychological, and social roots.
Addicts are not likely to get well unless they are accountable for their behaviors.
The following excerpts are from: Addiction- Why Can’t they just stop? HBO Series**3
Addiction is:
•A complex, progressive, chronic, relapsing brain disease that is treatable. .
•Relapse is part of the disorder.
•A developmental disease, that people need to get help early, to continue treatment until they find what works for them, and to have hope.
•There is no cure for this disease. The idea is to manage the disease, the way diabetes is managed. There may be relapses, as there are with ay chronic illness.
•A brain disease that can be treated by changing brain function, through several types of treatments.
Facts about Addiction:
•An addicted brain is different, altered from the normal brain.
•Drugs erode the voluntary acts of an individual. The brain’s reward pathways are hijacked due to the spikes of the brain chemical dopamine through repeated drug use.
•Approximately 40% of addicts suffer from co-occurring mental disorders.
•Addiction is The fact that drug courts have been so successful demonstrates that coerced treatment is as effective as voluntary treatment.
•75% of people struggling with addiction are employed.
•MYTH- Addicts and alcoholics have to hit bottom – whatever that is- before they become sober, but the reality is that everyone is different – there is no telling what will impel someone to seek treatment.
• An addict is far more likely to relapse on hard drugs if they drink or smoke marijuana.
•Addiction is NOT a willpower problem. Addiction occurs in an area of the brain called the mesolimbic dopamine system that is not under conscious control.
•95% of all adults dependent on or abusing alcohol stated drinking before age 21
•2002 SAMHSA – The younger kids are when they first use marijuana, the more likely they are to use cocaine and heroin and become dependent as adults.
•Often accompanied by other illnesses, in particular mental health disorder.
How does the brain become addicted?
•Drugs of abuse activated the same brain circuits as do behaviors linked to survival, such as eating, bonding and sex. The drug causes a surge in levels of a brain chemical called dopamine, which results in feelings of pleasure. The brain remembers this pleasure and wants it repeated…
•The need to obtain and take drugs becomes more important than any other need, including behaviors (like eating) that are truly necessary for survival. The addict no longer seeks the drug for pleasure, but for the need to relieve distress.
•Eventually, the drive to seek and use the drug is all that matters, despite devastating consequences.
•Using drugs and alcohol repeatedly over time alters brain chemistry and function
What brain changes cause such a dramatic shift in the addict’s thinking…
•Reduced normal dopamine activity. Drugs of abuse produce very large and rapid dopamine surges, and the brain respond by reducing normal dopamine activity. Eventually, the addict is incapable of feeling any pleasure – even from the drugs they seek to feed their addiction.
•Altered brain regions that control decision-making, judgment, memory, learning, desires and emotions have been affected. The resulting lack of control leads addicted people to compulsively pursue drugs, even when the drugs have lost their power to reward.
“The addictive process moves in, undoes or weakens what the brain knew before, and them teaches it something else entirely.”
Adolescent Addiction is Different...
•Generally have smaller body size, a lower tolerance for substances, and a brain that is not fully developed…putting them at greater risk for abusing drugs and at greater risk for physical and other consequences related to their use.
•Substance use may also negatively effect their mental and emotional development
•Family involvement plays a critical role in an adolescent’s treatment and recovery because they typically a part of a larger family unit and live with their families.
•Few adolescents attend treatment because they recognize they have a problem- need to be forced.
I think comparing diabetics to addicts is very useful in understanding the disease of addiction.
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Diabetic
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Addict
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Monitor Diet
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Learn to eat healthy
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Abstain from too much sugar
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Abstain from any mind altering drugs or alcohol
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Monitor sugar level regularly
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Random drug tests
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Insulin
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May need medication to prevent craving
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Doctor helps establish levels for glucose regulation
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Doctor/councilor helps establish guidelines for strategy to prevent relapsing
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Exercise helps circulation
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Exercise helps brain to heal faster
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Risk of Addiction: **2
•Personal
1.Age and Sex: Males and among people ages fifteen to thirty.
2.Genetic predisposition is important.
3.Being impulsive and oriented to the present rather than being oriented to delayed gratification
4.Having personal values that focus on one’s own feelings of pleasure rather than on concern for others, and having no religious or spiritual values
•Environmental
1.Being exposed frequently to alcohol and other addicting drugs
2.Living in a family that tolerates use and/or excessive alcohol use
3.Having a community that tolerates addiction and its consequences
•Substance of Choice ((Cocaine and heroin (heroin is a semi-synthetic opiate as are many opiate based prescription drugs and within the prescription drugs there is a wide variety of strengths OxyContin being one of the most powerful) are far more likely to produce addiction than is alcohol, give the same level of use, genetic vulnerability, and social tolerance.
•Routes of Administration (swallowed, smoked, injected, sniffed)
Who is at Risk? **3
•In general, the more risk factors an individual has, the greater the chances that taking drugs will lead to abuse and addiction
•Nature and nurture influence a person’s vulnerability or predisposition to abuse.
•Heredity is a critical factor in developing a substance addiction. Genetically complex means that many genes play a role in shaping addiction risk.
1. Some people inherit a genetic predisposition to drug or alcohol dependence.
2. Others inherit a personality or behavior disorder that makes them more susceptible to addiction
•Those who start using in their teens are more likely to become addicted later.
•Emotional, physical and sexual abuse victims.
•Traumatic events
Identifying Addiction: **2
•Addiction means powerless over use of alcohol or other drugs
•Addiction both feeds on and causes self-centeredness, sensitivity to criticism and dishonesty
•Addicts are not responsible for their disease, but they are responsible for what they do about their disease
•Abstinence is necessary for recovery from addiction, but is not sufficient for complete recovery
•Getting well has a spiritual dimension that overcomes self-centeredness and dishonesty
•Recovery most often comes from participation in the lifelong fellowship of a twelve Step program, such as AA or NA
•Addiction is a family disease- family members commonly suffer from co-dependence..usually need to participate in the process of recovery.
Why should an addict avoid all mind- altering chemicals (alcohol, drugs, even limiting caffeine and sugar)?
“Cross-addiction going from one drug to another, i.e. alcohol to marijuana, heroin to cocaine, etc., etc. the underlying reason is that the addict’s body chemistry is addictive, therefore, hyper-sensitive to all addictive substances, even if the effects of the substance are different. Thus the brain remains in addictive mode, even if the original drug is not taken.” Journey Magazine #6
Sweet Addiction
“There is a deeply spiritual dimension to addiction, as dishonesty and self-centeredness play major roles in the addiction to alcohol and other drugs. Other diseases such as diabetes, asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis (ordinary biological diseases) do not have this dimension. Unlike these diseases recovery from addiction is not a matter of seeing the doctor and taking some pills for a week or so. **2
Addiction is a lifelong disease in which medical treatment plays a potentially important but limited role. Dealing realistically with the addiction of a loved one is called detaching with love. It means doing what we can to help the addicted person and then honestly admitting our limits. Be willing to ‘let go and let God.’ “ **2
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