“The truth is, we all face hardships of some kind, and you never know the struggles a person is going through. Behind every smile, there’s a story of a personal struggle.” – Adrienne C. Moore
“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” – Charles Spurgeon
Today, the greatest challenge that we face in addressing the addiction crisis is not preventing the creation of new addicts nor is it getting those already addicted into lasting recovery. Our greatest challenge lies in overturning the misconceptions, the stigmas, the misinformation, and the outright lies that continue to be repeated about addiction and those suffering from it. I believe that education is the key and ignorance is the biggest obstacle. We cannot successfully attack a crisis of this magnitude unless we understand the problem and set to work using our resources where they are most effective. Please join me as I take on some common misconceptions in “Misconceptions and Stigmas Part 2”.
“Addicts are All the Same, They Just Want to…”
This statement can end in a multitude of ways such as, get high, have fun, lay around all day, avoid reality, etc. I addressed the second half of this statement in Part 1 but there is also the ridiculous concept that all people of any group are the same. Confronted with this fallacy in their statement most would retreat to saying that they are not exactly the same but the concept remains. Addiction does cause the same changes in an individual’s brain regardless of the activity or drug of choice but people with substance use disorder are as varied in their thoughts and behavior as the rest of the population.
Most people think of “addicts” as the person that they see on the street corner asking for money, living under the overpass, sleeping on a park bench or any other of a number of negative stereotypes. It is true that some people struggling with addiction do behave this way. What is also true though, is that there are lawyers, doctors, skilled laborers, people of all walks of life that are suffering from addiction to alcohol, opioids, cocaine, crystal meth, or any other abusable substance. You probably interact with people suffering from substance use disorder daily but you don’t see it.
When our son died, his employer told us that of the 20+ people that they employ he is the last one that they would suspect was an addict. I know a civil engineer that was married to a lovely woman and they had two wonderful kids, yet he was addicted to crack cocaine. In both of these cases the drug ultimately won but they were hardworking, contributing members of society. Typically, individuals that are able to hide their addiction ultimately do one of the following: get help and find lasting recovery before they destroy their lives, get help and find recovery after they have destroyed their lives, or they die from overdose or the results of the abuses that they heaped on their bodies.
Why should this matter to you? So what if there are “functioning addicts”? This matters because as long as the negative stereotypes persist people will resist efforts to help those suffering from substance use disorder. People will look down on them and refuse to accept them. Individuals in recovery are fighting a tremendous battle that lies largely within their own injured brain, they do not need additional obstacles thrown in their way. AND they likely will keep their addiction hidden for fear of the stigmas and not seek help. Addiction that is not addressed typically ends in death. That should matter to you, they are people just like you and me that are suffering from a disease that they may have initiated but it quickly overwhelmed them (physically).
“Addicts Don’t Think of Anything but Their Next Fix”
In discussing addiction and its impacts on the brain, I often speak as if this statement is true. I talk of how conditioning and neuroplasticity physically change the brain, making it believe that obtaining the addictive substance or behavior is necessary for survival. This appears to indicate that getting their next fix is all that matters but that is a gross oversimplification. The truth is that when the “need” is satisfied (when the person uses), the cravings, the drive to use is reduced. It is at this time that the person with substance use disorder may be crushed with thoughts of the impacts of their behavior on those that they love. There is overwhelming regret, shame, and remorse. The response to such feelings is typically the desire to hide from them and for those suffering from addiction, that means using again. The vicious cycle of use-shame-use is obvious and nearly impossible to break because of the physical changes to the brain that reinforce the addiction.
We often see in the media stories of parents found passed out in their car while their very young children are buckled in the back seat. The obvious conclusion is that these people do not love or care enough about their children. That conclusion is almost always wrong. They love their children deeply, but they are overwhelmed by their addiction and have acted upon the need to use.
A similar conclusion causes great pain to the children of addicts and alcoholics. They frequently feel that they are not good enough or important enough for their parent to stop their addiction and this causes low self-esteem and depression. The truth is that these are two very different drives in the brain. The love that they feel for their children is no less than the love that we all feel for our children but there is another area of their brain that is requiring them to obtain the substance that they “need” to survive. No one would think that their parents loved them less if they left them for a time to ensure that there was food. The problem lies in the fact that we all know, in fact those suffering from addiction also know on a logical level, that they do not need their drug of choice to survive. BUT the primitive part of their brain, that we do not have conscious access to, is driving them to get the drug that they “need”.
Addiction is Not a Disease. They Just Call it that so Insurance Will Cover Treatment
I read this statement in a letter to the editor and I was amazed. Within this blog, I have laid out all kinds of evidence and scientific investigations that would lead most people to conclude that addiction is a disease. I know that people resist the thought that addiction is a disease. Hell, so did I until I did my research. But to think that we only call it a disease to get insurance coverage underestimates the intelligence and lobbying power of insurance companies. The treatment of addiction costs millions if not billions of dollars. Don’t you think that if insurance companies could prove that addiction is wholly self-inflicted, they would refuse to cover treatment?
Please don’t think that I am making excuses. I believe that to succeed in recovery, an addict must accept what they have done. BUT
• Addicts do not choose to continue to use, they need to use.
• Willpower will not get an addict to stop because all of the willpower that they have to stop is also being used against them by their altered brain, to protect their addiction. Likewise, there is no threat that can be used to make an addict seek help.
• If you are not an addict, congratulations you got lucky. You don’t get to look down on addicts because you were born into a healthy environment and you won in genetic roulette.
• Addicts can succeed in managing their addiction but it requires help, support, understanding, and lots of time.
Do you have thoughts or experiences to share? Please comment, let’s work together and help each other to understand this problem.