Reunderstanding Addiction

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/likely-cause-addiction-has-been-discovered-and-it-not-what-you-think


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Its funny was talking about this article yesterday to someone. Its worth a read thanks for posting the link

Kristen (Reliah) and I were having a cool discussion on FB not too long ago about this. Very interesting stuff. Not fully applicable, but definitely something to consider when learning coping strategies.

Very interesting from the perspective of a recovering smoker. I struggle with my addiction to cigarettes and when I attempt to quit I always try and think about why I smoke so I can tackle the problem at the source and reduce the craving. I am now on an electric cigarette but still crave a regular one from time to time so it must be more than the nicotine. I think we use certain things as crutches and ways to dampen negative emotions which can lead to an addiction to anything, regardless of it being chemically addictive. I think this might be relevant to the comparison made between hospital users of drugs and people who use them outside. Generally speaking, hospital users are using them on prescription to deal with pain and the source of the pain is being treated. When they have been successfully treated they leave, the pain is largely gone and they have no need to continue taking the drugs.

I totally agree with this, my sisters reasons for addiction are right on par with what's written above. Ironically she just checked herself into rehab for a four to seven month program, took a whole ten days just to go through detox. I'm lucky to still have a house with a roof over my head after everything that's happened...

Happiness is a cure. Choosing it is the tough part because before a person can be authentically happy, that person must accept their unhappiness and acknowledge that they chose that. They choose to be unhappy so now they can choose to be unhappy.

Things that "deserve" your love the least, need it the most.

I feel that a Jedi comes from a place of acceptance and blessing. Through accepting things as they are and radiating blessing into that = the world can be cured. It can be healed. healing comes from the power of love.

I love it when data makes me reassess my view of things, as it disagree's with my experiences, but I think it shows important information about how rat's might compete socially. For human's I think it might be a bit more complex, but I place a lot of value in carefully associating elements of 'belief' into changing ones mindset's and worldviews to alter or distance oneself from bad habits - so if it works, it works!!!

Are you using it or is it using you, that is the question. I don't think the 'it' refers to the drug...

Being a child of the 60's and early 70's I can relate to this idea. I started playing in a band when I was a teenager, and of course ALL the drugs of the time were around. And, we experimented with most of them. I'm still in contact with most of these people I played with and the thing is, none of them turned out to be addicted to anything as far as I know. I still to this day cannot even take a shot of brandy and expect to get on a stage and play for people, although I know some who have to have something, whether it be alcohol or a certain drug like cocaine.

On a different note I lost both of my parents and my younger sister to alcohol addiction. I did try to socialize with them as much as possible to get them away from that 'life'. It makes me scratch my head now that I've read this article if perhaps I could have dome more to get them involved in my life more. Does that sound impossible? I've had more than a few friends die from drug addiction and overdoses. Mainly, I just tried to lead by example. You name it and I tried it. But, I always saw at one point just what these drugs could do to your mind and body and I stopped after my little experimentation with them. All of this just opens up and whole new can of worms does it not?

i went through this proccess

i went to the level of bleaching syringes so i could use them after other people because thats the best/safest method of sharing needles with people who have hep c

i lived under bridges and in tents and shacks out in the woods

i dont know how many times ive been to jail
or to the hospital lol

i took a shot of meth one time and i dont know what went wrong but within about five hours my temperature was 105 and i was yelling to a girl friend that wasnt there

after the fever broke my blood pressure started dropping so fast they put an IV in my jugular

ive seen girlfriends jump in a car with dealers and drive off because we didnt have enough money for the amount of dope we needed
ive found people that i know, dead
on the worst occasion i woke up next to someone i cared about
we passed out together, her liver had burst during the night

i went through the entire proccess this article describes

and i can attest that for me the thing thats made the difference has been

self acceptence
self love
personally meaningfull vision for my future
faith in my own worth and the worth of my vision
living a life that has meaning and a defined purpose

and it started with love - with loving myself as i am

then creating a vision that i belive in and working to achieve it