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Originally Posted by ngdawg
So my curiousness is this:
Do people go down that path with that thought(enhancement) or is it borne of some weakness/inability to cope with life as it stands? Is it a combination, or is there a common thread at all?(BTW, comedian Ron White was a drug counselor who used humor in his work. His bosses didn't like it, though. Love the guy!)
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Personally, I think that a person becomes an addict because they find something that makes them feel good and for whatever reason they believe that the consequences aren't an issue. It maybe the only thing in their life where they feel a sense of pleasure and well being.
If everyone in your life treats you like shit but after smoking a joint or having a few drinks people treat you better, even though you may have a hangover or get sick.... the consequence was worth it.
I don't see it as a weakness I see it as a person's inner decision to survive in some way.
Ever see the movie "Wine and Roses" with Lee Remick and Jack Lemmon? She has a line early on in her drinking that is telling about addicts..... "The world is so dirty, alcohol gives me a chance to pretend it's cleaner." (It's not a direct quote but very close.)
That's how addicts see it..... "this makes me feel better, I can function and see the world and feel the way I want." That's why the addict can keep lowering their rock bottom. They can keep saying (and meaning it) they want to quit, but the second they get that drug in them, or trigger the mind (for pschological addictions like food, sex, gambling)..... they remember the feeling the addiction gave them, how great it made them feel and "how much better life was with it"...... and they don't care about the consequences as long as they feel that way.
Thus they take more and dose higher and take more often. I am a firm believer that physical tolerance is a factor, the psyche truly pushes and controls the body's tolerence.
That's why some people can smoke 1 joint a night and never have any problems. Or how some people can take powerful mind altering prescriptions as prescribed. Or someone can drink 1 or 2 alcoholic drinks maybe feel the physical buzz and get a little loose and have fun but then not drink for a month. Or so on.... whatever the drug, they enjoy the effects but it never becomes an issue with them.
An addict can't understand that because of the pyschological factors. An addict is constantly chasing the buzz that made them first feel and see the world as they wanted.
If addiction were ever just physical, the drunk would stop drinking when the shakes ended.... but they don't they keep drinking until the get the feeling the desire.
It's why we get "dry drunks". They see the world as dirty and maintain the level of comfortability to them.
That's why we have "cross-addicts", stopped drinking, but now gambling or stopped the coke but now drinking..... or stopped the heroin but now abusing Xanax.... etc.
That's why we need to treat the psyche and more than just through 12 step programs, or thinking they are losers.
In order to treat them and understand our own addictions we have to see what they get from that "drug" and how we can get them to see and feel the world is better than they think without the "drug".
We need to reteach them how to enjoy life without the crutch.
Until we can do that, Camprel, Chantix, Suboxen, Methadone, etc. is just a band aid and a quick fix.... that won't last. They are "fix a flats".... unfortunately, insurance companies, the government and the medical profession refuse to accept this idea and so until the companies and government and whoever is willing to pay for long term deep therapies, most addicts will remain forever addicts.