The hardest truth for an addict to grasp is that they are in fact an addict. Just as someone cannot be made to drink or made to be sober an addict cannot be made to believe that he or she has a problem. If it is not acknowledged that the addict does have a problem then how exactly can it be resolved? Addicts generally tell people what they want to hear. That they have a problem that they want to seek help, but often this is just a lie in order to help them to continue using. If we really want to treat the disease the addict must fully admit it to themselves.
Even if all of the addict’s friends and family believes that they are an addict it simply doesn’t matter they can spend their whole lives inwardly denying it. The problem for the addict is that if they do truly admit it they will have to say goodbye to their using. The addict therefore continues to deny it to themselves in order to allow them to use. Often the addict must be able to realise that their lives without using is far more positive than with it. Only then can they see that they are an addict. This stage is often during meetings because of the fact that there are people who attend with long periods of time soberity and essentially give them a success story in which they can try to emulate.
The Truth are Drugs and Alcohol an Issue?
However many addicts reach a painful reality that although the drugs and alcohol are an issue. They cause them to act in ways which are out of their character, the real problem lies within themselves. This is not to say that they are bad people that they intend on doing harmful things towards their friends and family. They have unresolved issues which manifest themselves through substance abuse. The addicts brain is completely different from a ‘normal’ person’s brain. They constantly have issues which they find it difficult to resolve which then causes them to act out in a number of way. The truth is that if an addict wishes to stay clean and sober they must make some attempt at working through the issues which motivate them to use.
Whether it be deep rooted emotional anxiety about occurrences in their childhoods. Or even simply when someone cuts them up in traffic everyone has specific triggers. They must be broken down and analysed to the point where we understand why we feel in such a way. From this point the triggers become impotent because there is a higher understanding of why it is that they have such a reaction. There are undoubtedly a number of regrets that any addict has when they enter treatment. Due to the type of life they lead before deciding to get sober. These often have an effect upon their attempts to stay sober as they cannot get past these regrets. They end up torturing their minds. The only way to get past them is to accept that it has happened. To make a conscious decision to become a different person.
There are common features of every addiction.