Break the bondage of addiction
Addictions today have become more common than we dare to admit. Many types of addictions have become socially acceptable in these times of moral and spiritual bankruptcy. Good things when misused can become addictions.
What is addiction?
It is the dependence on a certain substance or behavior that is impossible to break without timely intervention. It destroys the person, demoralizes the family and all associated with it.
Society has a general tendency to consider different types of substance abuse as addiction, ignoring certain patterns of behavior that are equally addictive. Food, shopping, gambling, work, or sex can become behavioral addictions, creating problems that are just as destructive as substance abuse.
• Workaholics would be surprised to be told that work has become their addiction. They believe that hectic activity is good for mental health and well-being. People want to carve out positions of power and honor through their professional achievements. What starts out as a worthy ambition soon turns into an addiction. Without work they feel weakened and depressed.
• Food becomes an emotional pacifier to satisfy longings, loneliness or low self-esteem. People eat when they are under stress. The act of digesting food turns off that part of the brain mechanism that makes you tense. The increase in serotonin when you take food makes you feel good. Those who live alone and are sad or depressed are vulnerable. One woman who was eating all the time said, “I miss my husband and my stomach doesn’t know the difference between hunger and love.” Frenzy eating is an addiction. It is a vicious circle. When a depressed person snacks, their blood sugar rises and they feel good. But the insulin shoots up in the blood and after a while, the blood sugar drops. So go back to feeling down and reach for a hot chocolate or cookie.
• Gambling: Lotteries, card games, number games, casino games, betting on races or even cricket matches and other sporting events can become addictive. Even losing money does not determine them. They believe that luck is just around the corner. The adrenaline rush overshadows the guilt over lost money and accumulated debt.
• Shopaholics are compulsive shoppers. Whenever they are angry or frustrated, they find relief in buying an expensive pair of shoes or dress, regardless of the money and time lost. It makes them get out of their moods.
• Relationships: Some people develop an overdependence on a particular person to make them feel complete or fulfilled. This can lead to harassing, threatening, or harming the very person they claim to love.
• Sexual addiction is when the need for sex becomes a compulsive obsession, be it marital, extramarital, or same-sex. 44% of sex addicts are ashamed of what they do, but they cannot help it and will not seek treatment. Fetishes, pornography, rape, frottage (groping women) exhibiting, are some of the ways they get their orgasm. This addiction is to the neurochemical changes that occur during sex. Sex addiction in women is becoming a major problem.
• Mood-altering chemicals such as cocaine, heroin, LSD, amphetamines, ketamine, and prescription drugs such as cough syrups, sedatives, and tranquilizers are habit-forming. Even caffeine (a cup of coffee contains 150mg of caffeine) is addictive. Drugs provide a sense of well-being and a false sense of power and control.
• Alcohol is a threat to modern civilization. With free availability, the younger age groups are getting hooked on alcohol. It is said that alcoholism shortens a person’s life by twelve years. It is a depressant that affects the central nervous system immediately. Without a doubt, it temporarily reduces tension and produces relaxation. But in the long run, it destroys a person mentally and physically.
• Smoking is a very difficult habit to break. It has harmful effects on the liver, the heart and is implicated in the cause of cancer.
All addictions, whether behavioral or chemical, are destructive. They gradually rob one of one’s willpower or self-control. With drugs and alcohol, the body becomes tolerant of small amounts. Therefore, larger amounts are needed. The drug mix increases potency, but also increases dangers. Health deteriorates. There is loss of control and inability to manage one’s own affairs. Even routine jobs are hard to do. The behavior becomes erratic.
Causes of addiction:
1. Friends or family members can present the impressionable young teen with a glass of beer or a cigarette. This may be the beginning of a love for these substances. Recently, the case of a five-year-old boy who drank brandy was reported. His parents started giving him brandy every day to prevent asthma attacks.
2. Having bad company. Peer pressure can be very persuasive.
3. Disorganized home environment where parents are poor role models. There is no love, warmth or appreciation for a sensitive child. The parents may fight frequently or there may be domestic violence.
4. Poor and unsafe neighborhoods where drunkenness, violence and abusive behavior is a way of life.
5. Lack of direction with no moral standards to live by. Young people can easily be swayed in wrong ways.
6. Exaltation of alcohol, drugs and vices through movies, television, advertising.
7. Easy availability of alcohol and drugs.
How to break the bondage of addiction:
• First admitting that one has a substance or behavior problem; that life is completely out of control; that there is loss of dignity.
• Seeking help from trained counselors or psychiatrists. They will help to get to the root of the problem – Injustice? Fear? Worthless? Anger? Life is not a bed of roses.
Everyone has problems, but one must learn to deal with them without the help of substances. It is important to be aware of your own vulnerabilities.
• The approach to alcohol and substance abuse is multidisciplinary. You need admission to a center that deals exclusively with these problems. Medical measures will include detoxification and treatment of withdrawal symptoms.
Psychological management will be through:
1. Individual counseling, through which you are psychologically conditioned to stay away from drugs or alcohol. Each member of your family must also cooperate with the addict’s treatment, through love, understanding and compassion.
2. Group therapy will help the addict realize that they are not alone and that there are others in a similar situation. Here there is mutual understanding, acceptance, sharing individual problems and sympathy.
3. Sociotherapy consists of teaching the addict effective methods of adaptation to normal life. You should not be left in a high-risk environment. Community enhancements such as recreation clubs, Alcoholics Anonymous, and job availability will be helpful.
Rehab can be a long, hard battle depending on whether the addiction is to a substance or to a behavior. It depends on the addict’s desire and determination to be cured, and on the support he receives from his loved ones. Relapses can occur. But there must be the will to start all over again. Sometimes it can be a lifelong struggle, especially with drug addicts and alcoholics. Therefore, it is important to find support groups.
Along with therapy, dependence on God is essential. A daily walk with God will strengthen a person enough to overcome life’s injustices and allay lurking fears.
The seeds of addiction are within all human beings. We need to periodically check ourselves in and see if there are things we have a hard time letting go of that have the potential to become addictive.