is the concept of addiction helpful to an addict?

[josh]

a while back i was on this forum, posting fairly regulary for 3 weeks or so..well, cut a long story short, i relapsed. have gone about a month smoking heavily, at least 10 pound a day. this shit is killing me. its a lovely sunny day, and here i am, having eaten virtually nothing for two days, sleep deprived, about to smoke yet another joint.

i hate this so much. im going to quit, after this spliff. but in the meantime, some thoughts..

i dont know where i stand with regards to addiction. am i diseased? or just weak-willed? or brainwashed into obsessing over a problem, that then becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy?

while im not denying the literal reality of addiction, i think that the identification of yourself as "an addict" is unhelpful..and leads to adopting the suggested characteristics that follow. the more i acknowledge a problem with addiction, the more i seem to follow stereotypical addiction behaviour.

i mean, hell, the buddhists think identification with even physical form is illusion, so it follows that this concept in my mind of myself as an addict is just a thought, nothing more. but it leads to an ever increasing spiral of negative thoughts, and actions.

theres a quote, much expounded - "whether you think you can, or whether you think you cant, your probably right"... i think it runs deeper than that, and it depends on the identity of the thinker. perhaps then, doubt could be placed on the "first step" of addiction recovery.. to admit you are, "an addict".



of course, that sounds ridiculous. and do please bear in mind that im rolling my second spliff right now, so i certainly shouldnt be trusted. its just, well...ive admitted to myself im an addict for five or six years now, and while i have made numerous attempts to give up, honestly, most of that time has been spent getting stoned in a haze of self loathing. so im just questioning things.

so, to continue, im not saying that people dont have the best intentions, and obviously for some, the words do get through, and they quit and lead happier lives. for myself, and countless others, the words have no effect. they dont help, and maybe that comes down to some kind of root misunderstanding. in addiction literature, focus is generally placed on the specific dependence - ganja/gambling/sex/alcohol/ heroin etc - but put all of these groups together, and all addicts share several character traits, so this points to a common thread of experience. it could be said escapism is the root, a desire to hide from reality.. but perhaps that is itself an effect of something deeper. who is the one that is hiding?

aw shucks, well. third spliff time. and then yeah! its gone (relief) and i can maybe even go out and enjoy this glorious sunset coming. itd be nice to hear any thoughts, if this provokes any. but anyway, hi to you all again.. in about ten minutes i shall be once again a member of this unique little community, so hello to you all again, its nice to be back!

[BFB]

Hi Josh,

I can see where you are coming from and I guess it’s a comparison you could make to all sorts of situations not just addiction, but unless you recognise the problem how are you going to solve it? The first step in solving any problem is recognising it exists, otherwise why would you need to resolve a situation that isn’t a problem to begin with? And if you are of the school of thought that addiction is a disease which many people now are then again failing to recognise it usually isn’t the best way to deal with such a kind of thing. From what I have learned of the situation those who know the most about this sort of field tend to think it’s quite important to recognise the nature of the situation you are in and as you can probably tell I personally would tend to agree otherwise I wouldn’t be running this place.

However like I say I can see where you are coming from as there are usually pros and cons to every scenario and I think if you find that viewing a certain situation in a certain way is something you need to do then that’s just something you need to do, there’s no guarantee that what works for others or even the majority is necessarily going to work for everyone, take this place or any other support group, I know that support groups in general are something which help many many people, for some they can even be a real life saver so I think it would be wrong to say they should not exist but if a particular individual does not find they are helpful for them then I would say they probably shouldn’t use them and I would even say the same for this place, the last thing I would want is someone to be using us if we were doing more harm than good.

So basically I would just say it’s a horses for courses type thing and that a person should do what they find works for them. If viewing it in a different way to everybody else or using a different approach is what works best for you then perhaps that’s what you have to do. The one last thing I would say is that just because you are an addict it doesn’t mean you have to use, being an addict means you have a vulnerability not a justification, we recognise it to stay vigilant and to realise what will happen if we continue to use but not so we have an excuse to do so, I think it’s important to keep this in mind, which kind of leads us back to "Whether you think that you can, or think that you can't, you are usually right."

All the best,

[NotMyRealName]

Hi Josh,

I don't think you should get caught up with words, or definitions, or treatment options, or anythink like that. From your post it seems that you yourself are not happy with the ammount, and the way, you smoke, so just focus on that. If you are hiding from something, then try to fuind out what it is, and deal with it. If you just can't seem to control the ammount you smoke, then perhaps decide that none at all is the only option. Worry about the problem, not the label. Women (oh, dear, I'm going to cop it now!) are essentially "addicted" to oestrogen for a lot of their adult lives - when the levels fall each month they can get some narky withdrawal symptoms, and at the menopause (when the dealer leaves for good) the withdrawal can be pretty bad for some, to the extent that they will take oestrogen replacement therapy even though they know that it greatly increases their risk of dying of diseases such as breast cancer or heart disease. But I doubt you would find any woman who would introduce themselves as "a 25 year old oestrogen addict" - they would simply say that they are a woman. Sometimes the label isn't helpful.

Having said all that, interestingly, in Indonesia there are very strict drug laws, with long jail time, or even death, for getting caught. But according to their laws if you can prove that you are an addict, then the court forces a much more rehabilitation/treatment option rather than a custodial/punitive one. But perhaps this is really just addressing the problem anyhow, and the label is only there to see who really has a problem.

[BFB]

I agree there’s no need to get too hung up on labels if you personally feel it is not something that is helpful to you, whatever we call ourselves doesn’t matter so much as recognising the need to do something about it, if you feel it’s become a problem for you that is.

All the best,

[jimboob]

I agree completely OP. in fact I think this concept applies to things like anxiety too. Like if you label yourself as being socially anxious then you're going to go into every situation already worked up... It's better to just forget about it...

Same with quitting weed. Past efforts to quit were failures true, and I defenantly am addicted to some degree, but I never dealt with anxiety and depression and shit until I read that I would.

The best way to quit is not to gt all high and mighty off you're decision to quit. True, quitting is an important step towards bettering your life, but you still have a lot of work to do.

Me, I know I'm going to be smoking again in the future, but right now it's interfering with my life and need to reserve it for only special occasions...