Addiction

Although addiction is an involuntary condition, our widespread misconception and lack of understanding in society frequently blames the suffering addict for lacking willpower to be able to stop on their own or even for being morally deficient or a bad person. This stereotype creates an overwhelming feeling of guilt and shame in the person who is struggling with addiction, and, unfortunately, in many cases, hinders their ability to seek the help necessary to overcome it.

We often think of an addict as a derelict who lives an extremely poor quality of life by committing crimes, living on the street and having had lost everything. Although this may be a reality for many addicts, these are only some of the obvious manifestations addiction has on the lives of the people who suffer from it.

Many people who are trapped in some type of addiction do live seemingly successful and/or productive lives without “looking addicted”. Unfortunately, these suffering addicts are able to go unnoticed by the inexperienced eye, due to aforementioned misconceptions, and they continue to suffer internally and are often unable to pinpoint the problem in order to seek help and recovery.

WHAT IS REALLY AN ADDICTION?

ASAM (American Society of Addiction Medicine) defines addiction as “a treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual’s life experiences. People with addiction use substances or engage in behaviors that become compulsive and often continue despite harmful consequences.”

Addiction is characterized by the inability to refrain from consistently using a substance or acting out on a compulsive self-destructive behavior. These actions happen regardless of negative consequences and/or promises either to themselves or to others that it will never happen again. The addict often wants to follow through with what they are saying in most cases, but they lack the proper resources and support necessary to remain abstinent. Although, it may cease or lessen, or seem manageable at times, it will inevitably consume the addict again and escalate continuously unless they are treated.

Therefore, the focus on how much or how often a person uses substances or acts out on addictive behaviors are not the only things that needs to be acknowledged. We also need to look at the problems and difficulties it is causing in their lives.

WHY DOES A PERSON DEVELOP AN ADDICTION?

Although it is not essential to totally comprehend the root cause of one’s addiction for someone to find recovery, it is often valuable to have an understanding of how a person develops addictions. Most likely it is a combination of things, including genetics (from birth), family dynamics, or the social and cultural environment in which a person is brought up. These predisposed conditions can cause a person to turn to the consumption of substances and/or accompanying behaviors which they feel are related to their survival.

The important thing to understand is that it is chronic, and once developed, there is no known cure and that any addiction can be treated effectively when the problem is understood and accepted. Above all, if effective therapeutic tools are applied, addicts can achieve goals and learn new behaviors by focusing on positive solutions.

WHAT CAN WE BE ADDICTED TO?

• Substances: Any psychoactive substance can be addictive. Any substance that alters a person’s mood and/or perception and has a direct effect on the central nervous system, such as cocaine, heroin, speed, ecstasy, cannabis, benzodiazepines…
• Compulsive behaviors: The behaviors that can most often become compulsive are: sex, gambling, video games, work, shopping, and extreme sports among others. In general, the use of any of these modalities trigger similar parts of the brain which are stimulated by psychoactive substances.
• Food addiction or disordered eating? Although there is controversy surrounding whether or not food can be addictive, the most recent research on the subject sheds some light on the subject. Some of the main characteristics involve food restriction and distorted beliefs regarding body image which are generated by the diet culture of body worship we live in. This also includes a genetic and emotional/traumatic component which leads to negative body image and a pathological search for weight loss.

WHEN IS IT A PROBLEM?

Often, when a person wonders if their use of substances or behaviors are problematic, this is a sign, in itself, that there is a problem.

The important thing to recognize is that the amount of substances you consume, or how often you act out on addictive behaviors, is not what makes it a problem. The question you have to ask yourself is what happens to you when you do or when you are in the pursuit of doing so. You have to acknowledge how you feel, whether you have promised not to consume and have done it again, or if you continue to consume despite suffering from negative consequences in your life. You’ll want to examine if doing so goes against your personal morals and principles. In short, if doing these things make you feel concerned, or create problems and make you feel unhappy, it might be valuable to have professional guidance.

If at any time you have thought about reducing or stoping and the idea gives you fear, or seems impossible, or if you want to try to defend your consumption despite evidence of unmanageability in your life, these are signs that you should take a deeper look and see if you suffer from addiction to some degree.

ADDICTION AND FAMILY

With any type of addiction, the family is significantly affected. Family members also go through a progressive deterioration process that occurs parallel to an addict’s progression. We call this condition Co-addiction or Codependency.

The family members and people who are close to the addict often suffer from codependence and put the desires and needs of others (those of the addict) before their own in a way that harms their own well-being. This condition frequently develops when a person tries to help a person affected by substance abuse, eating disorders, or any other mental illness or difficult disabling condition.

Family members or people close to the addict, such as partners or friends, are usually lost and don’t know how to help them. Often they try to help the addict, but their efforts, which have the best of intentions, prove to be uninformed and mis-directed, and they backfire and have the opposite effect. This, therefore, perpetuates and facilitates the cycle of the disease.

PROBLEMS CONCERNING OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD AND BODY IMAGE

In these times, we have a difficult time appreciating and accepting our bodies. The diet culture of body worship teaches us to be constantly at war with ourselves; with our bodies and with the way we eat.

Diet culture promises us that if we restrict and control what we eat we will be able to obtain a body that will make us happy. It tells us if we have the perfect body, we will be able to get the partner, the work or the self-acceptance we crave so much.

The result is most people’s chronic dissatisfaction when it comes to their body, and for others, the development of a problematic relationship, often silently, with food, weight and body image, creates a departure from who we really are.

A person who has a problematic relationship with food has one or more of the following behaviors, emotions, and/or thoughts:

• Constant desire to control the foods you eat to control your weight and size.
• Constant weight gain and loss.
• The belief that you should exercise to get permission to eat some kind of food or to burn what has been eaten.
• Feeling out of control when testing certain types of food and thoughts of being addicted to food.
• Secretly binging and living with toxic shame when eating in secret.
• Listing foods as “compulsive”,”unhealthy” or “bad”, but having the inability to fulfill a commitment to stay away from those type of foods.
• Thoughts of there being something wrong with you because you can’t refrain from eating certain foods.
• Rejection of body and ideas that when a certain weight is reached all will be well, and then you will be able to flirt, relate better to others, get love and admiration and have higher self-esteem.
• A belief that a certain size or weight is something elective that depends on willpower
  Having self-esteem which is linked to the size worn or weight.
• As much as you’ve learned about nutrition, you still don’t understand why you can’t control the way you eat and why you cannot achieve the weight you think you should have.

PROBLEMS WITH FOOD AND FAMILY

As with addictions, the family of the person who has a negative relationship with food is often affected to some degree by co-dependent behavior.

Trying to help a person close to you with eating problems can be frustrating and often become an impossible mission and leave you with the feeling of complete helplessness.

Contact

From the following form you can contact me, send me your questions, concerns … I will contact you as soon as possible.