It takes courage and strength to face up to any type of addiction, whether it’s alcohol, drugs, nicotine, gambling, the internet, or self-injury. But no matter how bad the addiction or how powerless you feel, there is hope and help available. Don’t give up, even if you’ve tried and failed before. You don’t have to wait until you hit rock bottom; you can make a change at any time.
Learning how addiction develops—and why it can have such a powerful hold—will give you a better understanding of how to deal with the problem. Treatment success depends on developing a new way of living and addressing the reasons why you turned to your addiction in the first place. People often develop addictions in order to numb painful emotions, distract themselves, or cope with overwhelming experiences. In order to permanently end addiction, it's important to address the root emotional causes.
Addiction has two elements that must be understood to grasp the true nature of it. The first element is tolerance.
A person is drawn to an addictive behavior or substance because of the way it affects his or her emotions. It enhances some feelings and numbs out others. Emotional pain is reduced momentarily...and the hope is that it will not come back. Of course, it does. Tolerance means that over time more and more of the behavior or substance is required to produce the desired effect. More intense sex or more alcohol is required to numb out feelings, or more cocaine is needed to get the heightened sense of excitement and competence.
Eventually the intensity of the behavior or substance needed to produce the high become dangerous in and of itself. Not only does one become an impaired driver in the case of chemical addictions, but an overdose can occur or the liver can eventually fail. In the case of sex one runs the risk of an arrest, loss of a primary relationship or job, or becoming infected with HIV. And in the case of other behavioral addictions such as eating, spending, or gambling more and more intense experiences are required for satisfaction. Eventually even those fail.
The second element that is important to understand is withdrawal . Withdrawal means that an individual has a very painful physical and/or emotional reaction when the substance or behavior is stopped. Withdrawal happens in two phases: acute withdrawal and post-acute withdrawal. Acute withdrawal occurs within hours and days of the cessation of use. Alcohol withdrawal can be accompanied by hallucinations and delirium tremens. After a person has become adjusted to a certain level of the drug/experience removal of it affects the emotional/biochemical balance that has been established. The person then has to readjust to living without the previous level of stimulation, etc. Post acute withdrawal can last two years or more. It also has emotional and physiological aspects that are very difficult to endure.
As you can see, addiction is an ever-growing downward spiral which has NO pleasant ending. This is not a happy picture.
Recovery is a process, and there’s bound to be some bumps in the road. But you can overcome your addiction by learning how to cope in ways that are constructive rather than destructive to yourself and others. Here are some way that you can do just that:
(1) Seek spiritual and professional help.
(2) Improve your attitude about yourself and stop making excuses.
(3) Pray and meditate on good things.
(4) Watch the environment you expose yourself to.
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