What Lesson Can We Learn From The Urge To Get Wasted
Written by Logan Mazzettia, Posted on , in Section Turn For The Better
Addiction doesn't simply happen to anyone, even those of us with severe genetic predispositions to drug and alcohol abuse going back for generations. That means that there's always going to be a trigger, something that leads one to abuse substances in the first place. When this happens, addiction comes in and closes the loop. Once you're hooked on something, it becomes its own reason. You can create all the alternative behaviors and realize other pathways of thinking to escape the cycle that you want, but until you confront the underlying reasons that led to your substance abuse you're only treating symptoms.
It's like in any other area of medicine. If you're not treating the disease, you're just treating the symptoms. Cancer makes you feel sick and tired. So if I gave you some anti-nausea medicine and some caffeine pills are you any closer to being cancer free? Of course not, so why would take a similar approach when we're treating the disease of substance addiction?
Unfortunately, even after all these years, the medical reality of substance addiction is that it isn't well accepted. Most people still see addicts as poor souls locked into a behavior that they don't want to get out of. We know that that's just not the case with most addicts. No one wants to be locked into a behavior that isolates them from their families and the people they love and care about. No one wants to be locked into the expense of being an addict. No one wants to be addicted to something that prevents them from making any of the right choices they should be making.
The Powerless Seeming Plight of Teen Addicts
To be an addict is to feel helpless. It makes you feel like the only option that exists is to consume more and more of the thing that is destroying you. You know that what you're doing is only making your situation worse. Unfortunately, too often addicts and treatment providers focus on disarming the urge.
"If I could just stop the urge," they say.
"If I could just go somewhere that my friends aren't using"
"If I could just go anywhere that doesn't remind me of heroin," or whatever drug or substance it is we're dealing with.
But that doesn't look at the root problem. It's just putting a band-aid on a wound that's going to need stitches or major surgery to heal.
In therapy, we have the opportunity to uncover root causes that an individual may not even realize are the underlying reason for their substance abuse. We have the opportunity to create genuine success stories. We have the opportunity to heal old wounds.
Real therapy leads to true success over substance abuse.
Don't allow yourself to be imprisoned by your addictions. Don't chase recovery that won't last. Find lifelong relief by treating the causes of your addiction in a real, productive therapeutic environment.
