Substituting Addictions

When I was using, albeit less and less, I really wanted to take pictures of the paraphenalia and a shot of one of our gang hitting the pipe... well the people who know me also know that I do search engine optimization, I do websites for local businesses and I can get Google to say what ever I want Google to say about a company... needless to say no one wanted their face to show up in Google or Yahoo.

I found this photo on a site that gives permission to use it, so here it is.

Crack smokers know what's up in the pic, I added it here for the non users that read this blog (and the number of readers is skyrocketing so I must be doing something right).


Is Everyone "Addicted" to Something?

Dictionary definitions of addiction include:
"Compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (heroin, nicotine, alcohol, etc.) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal".
"Persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful".

Addict: (n) "One who is addicted to a substance."

Addict: (v) "To devote or surrender oneself to something habitually or obsessively."

Colloquial use of the words addict and addiction have progressed in recent years to include many things not inherently harmful and not characterized by any withdrawal other than the feeling of loss. For example, some Steamboaters may say they are addicted to skiing. There may actually be some truth to this; look at the person (usually with a history of addiction to a substance, perhaps in early or marginal recovery from substance abuse) compulsively skiing to the detriment of his marriage or family commitments, or even work; he may "devote or surrender himself obsessively to skiing." He may be doing something harmful to his marriage or job, but when the season is over, he does not have physiological withdrawal. He may feel loss, but more likely will find another process to participate in "habitually or obsessively."

This behavior is compulsive, but it is not the same as addiction to a mind altering substance. The danger here, to continue with this example, is in substituting skiing for alcohol, heroin, prescription pills, or speed. Certainly physical exercise is good for everyone, and can be helpful to the addict who is discontinuing the use of a mind altering substance; but if the addict simply begins to use skiing compulsively and does not embrace the work and process of recovery, he is likely to return to substance use and abuse when the season is over. He will find skiing only goes so far in helping deal with the underlying pain, anger, and other feelings he has been covering up with substances and now with obsessive skiing.

The point is that the addict is the problem; the skiing, even the substance, is not really the problem. A non-addict can have an intense interest in something, perhaps reading or art, or some form of exercise. This passion does not become destructive. The non-addict (I hesitate to say "normal person" as everyone's idea of what constitutes normal is different) does not switch from intense and passionate reading, writing, painting, or skiing to abuse of alcohol or pills when he stops reading, writing, painting, or skiing. Non-addicts can have an intense interest or passion for something; this is not addiction; it is intense interest or passion for something that enhances their lives and is not destructive; they are not addicts; they are passionate and intense people or people with intense and passionate interests.

The real issue here is that addicts are different from other people. If you ever have the opportunity to listen to an addict (even one in recovery for many years) try to explain to a non-addict (spouse, therapist, friend or family) how he thinks or feels, and see the puzzled look on the non-addict's face, then watch two addicts talking to each other, nodding their heads and finishing each others sentences, you will see the difference.

Again, the danger for the addict is in substituting something for the drug instead of working on recovery; it does not usually last and it does not provide for resolution of past issues and progression to a clean, sober, and responsible life.

So, to answer the question, "is everyone addicted to something?" No, some people are addicts and they are susceptible to becoming addicted to any substance or process they use. Other people, perhaps 85% to 90% of the population, are not addicts; they can safely have intense interests and not risk destructive and harmful addictions or physiological withdrawal symptoms.

Dr. Dawn Obrecht is the only MD addiction medicine specialist on the western slope of Colorado. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and her office is in Steamboat Springs. She does consultations and referrals anywhere in the country and can be reached at 970-846-8479 or through http://www.docdawn.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dawn_Obrecht

==========
These articles are for informational purposes only. Contact a licenced counselor if you're in crisis.

60 days clean... for real this time

60 Days Clean

I've been writing this from the perspective of an addict... it takes one to know one.

I've been 'in the process' of getting clean, and as you can tell from my posts, I believe one can 'move towards' getting clean as opposed to 'you gotta stop altogether or it don't count'.

Ok, I have used a bit, got clean, did some, stayed clean longer, got used to that, became accustomed to what 'clean' feels like, liked that, became exposed to a little bit of crack, rationalized that a little wouldn't hurt....

rinse, repeat.

The intervals of time clean have been getting longer.

How familiar I am with the distinction between 'geekin for another hit' and losing interest in the shit in the first place is increasing.

I like the latter more (more than I used to)

As a sex addict, and someone who had so much shame associated with my past fuck ups and shit that I did, again in the past, that WAS screwy, embarrassing, did shit that made everyone that knew me think I was a jealous loser that just refused to move on when his woman cheated on him...

I can tell you that a LOT of people I know that use weekly if not daily fall into this category, well men sex addicts do. The more you smoke, the more you wanna get laid, but the more you smoke, the less likely your hydraulics are going to work.

OK, I got laid last month and it wasn't a crack ho. I liked that... this woman wanted ME, not the amount of crack I had or money in my pocket (that was rapidly dwindling with each $50 I called to see if I could buy/get.

I'm really pleased to report that I'm now 60 days clean.

Last month: 7 days clean, smoked a couple hits, 10 days clean, smoked a $30 )didn't buy it, let someone use my place and they 'hit me off', 14 days clean, smoked some more crack, this time a $50, 21 days clean, did a single hit...


And now, it's been over 2 months. I 'lost interest' in the shit

more coming, I've got some work to do for paying customers... What do I do?

I publish blogs for small businesses. Blogs outperform conventional websites in the search engines.. that's how you found this blog, right?

I see the website stats, the number of hits this blog gets, the number of people who subscribe to the blog via RSS reader is skyrocketing, the number of people getting blog posts in their email (see box on right) is increasing.

So, I deduce from that, you want to get clean too.

Peace


==========
These articles are for informational purposes only. Contact a licensed counselor if you're in crisis.

Use Guerrilla Recovery Methods

If you've been trying to get clean using traditional methods and it's not working...

Try going through the 'back door'.

What I mean is if you're fuc*** up and you know it, what do you do?

Most people seek out someone they know that used to be 'Off The Hook' and either quit or cut down so much it was clear that they had cleaned up.

And what is the most likely thing that cleaned up person's going to tell you?

Go go meetings

So what if going to meetings doesn't help you?

A better question is WHY would going to meetings not do you any good?

For most of those for whom going to meetings doesn't help it's because they either don't believe in God, or they don't believe God is going to help them.

OK, transparency check here: I do believe in God and do believe 12 step meetings can help.

BUT

it's not completely necessary to believe in God or go to meetings as a believer, nor even go to meetings at all to get clean.

OK, got that out of the way

Why does going to meetings not work?

The 3rd step - it's a Trust Issue, in your guts you don't trust God to help you.
OR... in your guts you don't think God's gonna take the time to help a screwed up, lying, untrustworthy piece of sh** like you.

Why do so many people have trouble with organized religion?

The Hierarchy Model, that's what I think.

God is UP THERE
and we're DOWN HERE.

another reason so many people have trouble with God is most religions concentrate on BRIBERY

"If you don't do good... YOU'LL GO TO HELL!!"

I recently found out I'm what they call "Gnostic", I didn't know there was a specific philosophical/ theological term for it...

I do not trust organized religion and I DO trust spirituality.

I'm more in line with DePak Choppra than I am the president of the Mormon Church or the Pope.

I do NOT think God is so Punitive, the God I believe in isn't so into punishment.

My God is not a vengeful God.

I think it's counterproductive to concentrate on punishment, see the blog post on another of my blogs that I keep linking to...



So... what the hell do I mean by 'Back Door'?

Use N.L.P.

And WFT is NLP?

Neuro Linguistic Programming. Some people call NLP a form of self hypnosis.

I wrote about NLP on another of my blogs here:
http://victimbehavior.blogspot.com/2008/09/installing-new-behavior.html

You Could call it that, but that'd be a misnomer, that's such a limited title to give NLP.

For now, let's say we've grown up using internal 'software' and that 'programming' sucks.

Scrap the programming.

ditch the motherf****r.

Simple as that.

What you were doing to get crack free didn't work.

Do something else. Try something else. What's the harm? What you WERE doing didn't work.

The way you look at crap automatically includes certain limitations. Those limitations are unconscious. They're 'built in'

They are PRE suppositions, and when you 'look at sh** a certain way' the presuppositions are not apparent (because they're built in) you can't see the forest for the trees kinda thing.

OK, here's some examples:

you smoke cigarettes, since you smoke crack, it's a safe bet you smoke menthol cigarettes, Newport's probably (easy giveaway to spot a crack head: white guy smoking Newports and his lighter is turned up so high it burns his eyebrows)


When people try to quit smoking... how confident are they that they'll make it?

Not very.

When people get a cold, what do they do?

take something to deal with the symptoms... what happened to a cure?

Do you really believe you can "CURE" addiction?

I didn't think so.

Change the paradigm is what I'm saying...

Don't try to 'quit' or 'stop' doing anything.

to quit/stop/give up/ is negative.

What you want to do is to re program your insides to what you want to more towards, and not what you want to avoid.


//////////////////////////////




Your goal is to be crack free.



\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\





not stop smoking crack






What would it look like if you were crack free?


What kinds of sh** would you do if you were crack free?


What would it feel like, inside, if you were crack free?


now for most of the crack heads reading this, they're gonna say, sh*t that's not gonna work.

See what you're built in presupposition already limited you to?


To construct an imaginary scene where you are crack free is to use NLP self hypnosis techniques.

there you go... now you have something to practice.


Here are some links to describe NLP:

http://www.nlpu.com/whatnlp.htm

What Wikipedia says about NLP

What follows here actually belongs on my http://subjectobjectreality.blogspot.com but since it's related to the thrust of this post I'm leaving it in here.
Also, I'm tired as shit and if I don't leave it here, I'll forget to write a blog post around this idea.

The entire monotheistic methodology of religion, since the Jews first entertained that thought process is from a point of view that is like a 'singularity'.

We view the universe from OUR point of reference, every thing is measured, distance for example, measured as "we're here" and "that's over there".

==========
These articles are for informational purposes only. Contact a licenced counselor if you're in crisis.