Addiction By Definition

Well, OK. The cost would be prohibitive...so no. Let me do a bit more research into this one....This is Day 187. I had dinner with an old friend last night. He was the one who used to suffer from addictions to the point that he had to do prison time due to the consequences. He also was a Torah student and it was he who introduced me to the concept of Rational Recovery. I was mildly interested in the science behind recovery but it never really hit home until I actually have been recovering.Here is a good website. Understanding Drug Use and Addiction

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In reality, drug addiction is a complex disease, and quitting usually takes more than good intentions or a strong will. Drugs change the brain in ways that make quitting hard, even for those who want to. Fortunately, researchers know more than ever about how drugs affect the brain and have found treatments that can help people recover from drug addiction and lead productive lives.

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I suppose that first, the individual themselves would start the ball rolling towards recovery. Without the cooperation of the individual, recovery is quite simply impossible. The next step is how the intervention specialist---be it a professional, layman group leader, or even a well-meaning friend guides the addict towards recovery. For some, a sobriety group does the trick, but the science is in the length of sobriety. For others, a psychiatrist may be needed to jump start the brain chemically towards abstinence. My point is that the brain will only change once the subject wants to change, feels safe, and only when the length of sobriety from the addiction adequately allows the brain to heal back from its aberration.

Well said.

Has anyone noticed that as my brain is healing from my addiction, my irrational beliefs seem to have taken on a temporary emotional obsession?Dont get me wrong...I am a believer as always, but my arguments seem petty, desperate, and not rational lately. I am attributing this to mental healing, though am at a loss to explain why I am getting worse.

Actually, you have seemed to me to be more rational as of late.

I agree with NoNukes that your posts seem more thoughtful.You could be experiencing some cognitive dissonance as you recover from your addict mind?Edited by RAZD, : .

Nice! Keep going! It only gets easier... I say without any personal experience in such things I haven't noticed anything. And others seem to ring similar sentiments. Perhaps this is something you're only noticing from inside your own mind?I would like to point something out, though: I have no issues labeling such traits as "worse." (But I don't see any of this in your posts).My issue is that just before this you mention a "temporary emotional obsession."I would like to point out that "emotions" never make anything "worse."Emotions themselves are the way humans work... we have emotions, we're human.The only "worse" thing emotions can bring is if you follow them without using your intellect to monitor and guide your actions.
For example: Road rage. Simply "following the emotions" of road rage is a bad thing. However, if you use your intellect to monitor and guide your actions, and accept the emotion for what it is - a human feeling of rage - you put that emotion to good use - focusing more on safe driving habits.There's nothing "wrong" or bad about emotions. If there was, there would be something fundamentally wrong/bad about being human. Because humans have emotions.There's only wrong or bad choices or actions following those emotions.

Have you though it might not be because you are being more irrational, but more aware of yourself??

Actually I have considered that possibility.Today is day 191. I am coming down with that cough/respiratory crud that seems to be going around! Yesterday I passed by a lotto machine and looked at all the "new" games...and just looking at them caused a reaction within me as I thought about certain undefinable emotions that I used to have while playing them.Contrast that with now. I am at peace. It would be folly to ever entertain chaos such as i did. Perhaps back then I saw the distress as excitement. Now, however, I am glad that I am at peace.

Looking back...and trying to recall the "feeling" of the addictive days versus the feeling of the here and now.Back then I was like a zombie. I felt nothing except anxiety and the drive to gamble. Apart from fantasy based thinking...which always led back to the gambling "rush" itself...I hardly was aware of what I was doing at all... and yet I was aware that my will at that time was to feed my addiction.

There's medicine for that, talk to your doctor.

I got through the early recovery without the need for the medicine.I studied the brain in this book: Healing The Addicted BrainHe mentions the newest medications, but I have had bad results with medications before so I toughed out the first 40 days and never looked back.E-Motions can be thought of as energy in motion. My point was that an addicted brain has a limited sense of what the emotion---the energy---actually is.To an addict, the feeling is simply action. After 40 days, the feelings begin to become reassociated with the energy in motion.

I studied more about the medications. The following are common in Alcohol recovery, at least: Vivitrol, Campral, Antabuse and Suboxone. Addiction is a chronic medical illness that attacks the brain, damaging key parts of the cerebral cortex and limbic system. Much of the injury to the brain occurs in the frontal cortex, an area that plays an important role in memory, judgment, impulse control, problem-solving, and other intellectual skills. The medications are primarily effective at healing the limbic system, where desires and basic drives reside.A comprehensive treatment model includes 12 step programs and/or group therapy...talk therapy. Evidence shows that an addict will generally not listen or consider what's best for them until after 21-40 days of sobriety.A well-planned treatment model also incorporates psychiatric care, psychotherapy, wellness/nutrition/stress management, neuropsychological assessment, and family therapy.I am using some of these methods but have not incorporated all of them. Talking here at EvC is part of my therapy, but only informally. Today is Day 194---I am battling a cold and am worn out from working so hard. Sleep and plenty of water are tried and true therapies and I am using them.Edited by Phat, : No reason given.

I am finding that my lifelong issues revolving around entitlement and codependency are coming to the forefront.

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Codependence is the pain in adulthood that comes from being wounded in childhood and leads to a high probability of relationship problems and addictive/compulsive behavior. It is a combination of immature thinking, feeling and behaving that generates an aversive relationship with the self (self-loathing), which the codependent individual acts out through self- destructive or unduly self-sacrificial behavior.

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I am helping to care for my 93-year-old Mother and am becoming scared...not just of losing her but of losing what she represents to me. Although I am free from gambling, I find myself depending on things in life that won't help me.I am just scratching the surface on these deep emotions so far...but I can say that they are very strong...ingrained from when I was young. I realize that I need to depend on others---and on God..though some would challenge that assumption.I feel very scared by myself...when I finally get down to it. Not even sure I feel it as I write this...so intuitively I may be receiving false signals. Stay tuned

Spam removedEdited by AdminNosy, : No reason given.

My mind is blank. I feel anger...like the fundamentalist Christians I warned about in my Trump=antichrist post.I too am scared of losing. I am angry at anyone or anything that takes my security away from me.All I know is that I am in a marathon. This is not a sprint. I could be in therapy for years. Stay tuned....