Addiction - everyone knows how dangerous it can be to be stuck in one, and yet, addictions seem so very difficult to break. It doesn’t matter what it is - drugs, alcohol, gambling, they all present the same challenges. You may be someone who has tried to kick their addiction in the past. You start off great, but then old demons creep back in, and you inevitably fall off the wagon. Try as you might, you just can’t seem to get rid of the feelings that cause this driving urge in you to want to harm yourself. Maybe you feel like giving up. But don’t. There is hope!
Why Can’t I Beat My Addiction?
Only 10 percent of you is conscious of the choices that you make. The rest of the 90 percent is subconscious, and is not aware of what is happening in your current state. That 90 percent is what can prohibit you from moving forward with your addiction goals. That 90 percent affects body functions like your breathing and cardiovascular functions. We don’t consciously think about the fact that we’re breathing. Our body just naturally
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This is a really hard job, so the subconscious mind is always working. In order to do its job properly, it needs order. The subconscious mind sees order as programming. The first time you won a gambled game, you felt fantastic. Maybe you were depressed one night, and took a few glasses of wine to feel better. Only now you gamble all the time, and drink all the time. The subconscious mind doesn’t make a distinction when you gamble away your life savings, or almost injured yourself driving home drunk. It can’t tell the difference between good and bad. It automatically connects your addiction with being programmed. So this is why it’s been so hard for you to beat your addiction. You’ve been using 90 percent of your mind to do something that it actually thinks is good for you! Luckily, there is a way to release the chains of your addiction, and break through that addiction, using
Koob, G. F., & Simon, E. J. (2009). The Neurobiology of Addiction: Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going. NCBI, 115-132. Retrieved APRIL 26, 2014, from www.ncbi.nih.nlm.go/pmc/articles/PMC2901107
There are many different definitions in which people provide regarding addiction. May (1988) describes that addiction “is a state of compulsion, obsession, or preoccupation that enslaves a person’s will and desire” (p. 14). Individuals who suffer from addiction provide their time and energy toward other things that are not healthy and safe. The book
The biopsychosocial model of addiction theorizes that crossing biological, psychological and social and systemic properties are essential features of health and
In conclusion, there are many different addiction theories that interpret addiction in different ways. However, focusing only on the biological aspects like the disease model, or only to the choosing behaviors like the choice theory cannot succeed to understand addiction in a coherent way. That’s why; the biopsychosocial approach provides a conceptual framework that focus on all factors that are related to addiction. As Fisher and Roget (2009) states, “the beauty of the biopsychosocial model is that is does not refute the validity of existing models”. For these reasons, it is important to handle addiction as a biopsychosocial disorder to earn a better understanding of its nature and to be more helpful to the addicts’ treatment process.
Addiction causes people to lose self-control so it is harder to resist the urge to go back to the addictive substance or drug (Jellinek 1952). For example, some people might have a harder time quitting an addiction if they have frontal lobe lesions. These lesions make it harder for people to make smart decisions of self-regulation therefore making them more susceptible to addiction (Peterson, Rothfleisch, Zelazo, & Pihl, 1990). The lesions are a physical thing that makes it easier for addictions to control people, but addictive substances and drugs also make it easier for people to lose control and make it easier for their addiction to control their actions and their wants.
In 2010, an estimated 23.5 million Americans were addicted to alcohol and/or drugs and needed treatment or supportive services (Partnership for drug free kids). Most people make the assumption that those that are addicted to a substance are just making poor choices. I will have to admit that I was one of those people that thought that it should be easy to quit something so toxic. It wasn 't until I did the research myself that I found addiction is actually a disease. It takes a lot more then willpower to just stop using something that a person 's brain has become so accustomed to. With all of the advances in science we now have a better idea of what leads to addiction. This doesn 't mean that poor choices and life decisions don 't attribute to addiction, but these causes increase the likelihood of an individual becoming addicted to a substance. The majority of individuals that abuse drugs or alcohol will admit to having a history of childhood trauma, alcoholics in the family, or drug use in their social circle.
According to Leshner, drug addiction is a chronic brain disease that is expressed in the form of compulsive behaviors (Leshner, 2001). He believes that drug addiction is influence by both biological, and behavioral factors, and to solve this addiction problem we need to focus on these same factors. On the other hand, Neil Levy argues that addiction is not a brain disease rather it is a behavioral disorder embedded in social context (Levy, 2013). I believe, drug addiction is a recurring brain disease that can be healed when we alter and eliminate all the factors that are reinforcing drug addiction.
It’s not a matter of willpower. They cannot just stop on their own or they would. No one wants to be an addict….People who say they can control it don’t understand the nature of the disease, because the disease is in control” (Sheff, 150). For many, individuals find something that makes them feel better and fills the void albeit temporarily. Then, they keep going after it to achieve the same feelings as before, and while some habits satisfy the user every time, others have to chase the dragon and are never able to experience that first sensation again. Before they know it, they use that substance as a crutch, and they cannot function without it. Though some people may manage to wriggle their way out of their habits slowly but surely, others fall victim to their own self-destruction before they can even begin to put a halt to it. Yet, there is always hope. With the support of others, encouragement, motivation, and patience, there are ways to prevent further usage or consumption. It takes quite a bit of determination to go through recovery because of relapse, but “relapse is a part of recovery” (Sheff, 167). Even still, life doesn’t have to
Throughout my entire writing career I have always had difficulty writing. For one I have never enjoyed it because I am usually not interested in the topic. I also seem to get writers block half way thru whenever I write a paper. My final big problem with writing is that I always procrastinate before I have a paper due. My main problems with writing are procrastinating and having writers block.
The world involving drug addiction is a taboo topic to many. However, drug addiction is a very real topic that occurs worldwide. The widespread use of drugs is not restricted to the United States, with roughly five percent of the world’s population using in the past few months (Mosher & Akins, 2014). Many scientists, doctors, and specialists study addiction and try to find an explanation for why so many become addicted.
When it comes to the topic of addiction, most of us will readily agree that it is a miserable trait to possess. An addiction is a physical and psychological state of being that if not treated correctly could result into harmful wrongdoing. In The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, he recounts a story in which a fatigued housewife named Angie Bachmann lost all of her family’s assets, amounting to a million dollars due to a gambling addiction. Every habit has three components: a cue or a trigger of an automatic behavior to start, a routine the behavior itself, and a reward which is how our brain learns to remember this pattern for the future. According to Duhigg, “you cannot extinguish a bad habit, you can only change it” (63). Duhigg suggests that in order to change ones bad habit the “Golden Rule” must be implied. The Golden Rule is a theory of shifting a habit by retaining the old cue and reward, and tries to change only the routine. Duhigg’s answer to the question in the chapter title, “Are we responsible for our habits?” is simply “Yes.” If we have an awareness of our habits, then we are responsible for their consequences. In the case of Angie Bachmann, she should be held accountable for her gambling debts because she was well aware of her own bad habit and did not try to seek for help.
she always used to wish for a way to escape her life. She saw memories
So, it is clear that addiction is all around us and can attack anyone of us at any given time. Even studies conducted show that people neglect to speak around their dependency for two primary reasons. Foremost, because people do not comprehend, or they bear a total misconception to their addiction, that they do not realize that addictions can be critical to their overall wellness. Moreover, second, many people believe being an addict will never happen to them, but, in reality, most addictions start off as simple little habits. Such as starting with one drink after dinner and before you know it you are drinking several drinks a day. However, one does not opt to be addicted to a substance, because addictions are physical defects in the brain, a disease, and not one’s choice.
When people hear the word addiction, most people picture an alcoholic that spends hours a night at the bar, or meth addict that sleeps in the streets and prostitutes herself out to obtain money for another hit, but what various people refuse to realize is that addiction has become an epidemic in the United States. Addiction is everywhere from the UPS man that takes smoke breaks every few delivery’s, to your best friend 's dad whose appears to have everything put together but spends his evenings at the casino. In my opinion, it 's essential to share your story, I’m restless to tell you experience with addiction.
For many years, people have suffered many devastations about addiction. It has become a common killer in the United States just like murder. Addiction has affected over 23 million people from the age 12 and older. These addictions are wide ranging, they can include alcohol, drugs, sex, video games, food, pornography, and gambling. People like to keep quite because they view this disease as morally wrong. Addicts sometimes shut out their family member because they are afraid of the reaction if anyone knew their problem. The Nation Institute of Drug Abuse states Addiction is as a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences.Today in 2016 addiction is spreading across