Thursday, July 19, 2007

Addiction Not Just Antisocial Behavior



Not long ago, most people thought that Alcoholism and Addiction was just quirky, Antisocial behavior that the addict just refused to address and control. It was thought that the addict brought on all his or her own worst consequences.

Today we have better information and can realize that addiction is much more complicated than just someone not dealing with their behaviors. It involves sickness of emotions, impaired psychological make up, spiritual unsteadiness and also physical/chemical imbalances in the body.

Though an addict, at some point has to come to terms and start owning the behaviors of addiction and admit that they are causing many of the harmful and unpleasant consequences in life, there are certain things that an addict doesn't have complete control over.

An addict can start to even up factors in a life that is out of control by by HALTING substance intake and immediately starting to deal with the other imbalances that are out of control. Though some of an addict's behaviors might appear (and are) antisocial, there are a number of things that the addict will have to work on in order to gain control of their life again. These won't be strictly 'behavioral' details. Patterns of thinking and old, erroneous attitudes have to change as well.

Dealing with so many variables is often overwhelming for newly recovering addicts or freshly 'clean' persons. Just because the addict puts the drugs down doesn't ensure that life will return to normal right away. It takes time to make changes and often, 'patience' is hard to come by, but perserverence and the development of patience is very important in recovery.

The immediate surrounding friends and family of an addict who has finally stopped 'using,' will often expect (as does the addict) that life will be magically better because the booze and drugs have been taken away, removed from the addict. This 'instant better life' rarely happens. Instead, it's important to realize that the friends and family who support the addict's decision to 'clean up' will most likely need some support from somewhere, themselves. They'll have to relearn how to communicate with the recovering person, just as the recovering addict will have to learn how to communicate without being under the influence of drugs. Perhaps nobody has spoken to the addict for a very long time without the addict under the influence of drugs.

Groups like Al-Anon and AlaTeen can help when there is confusion in the family. These groups also offer an alternative source of help for when families are reactive toward each other. There are Al-Anon and AlaTeen members who understand the discomforts and stresses of going through the rebuilding process that occurs when an addict effects the lives of family members. If brothers, sisters, friends, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, granparents, and children would like to go elsewhere with their difficulties and spare some burden on their family members, Al-Anon and AlaTeen are good alternative choices for support.

Often families do feel like they're placing a burden atop another family members' shoulders. Rebuilding lives is hard work and not without glitches along the way. Often, families who are in the rebuilding stage don't understand why they still have conflicts after the booze and drugs have left the home. They may wonder, "Why am I not happy - why is everything still such a struggle?" They may think, "This is what I wanted (the substances out of the home) but I still do not feel better or like life is normal!" In worrying about these thoughts, attitudes and feelings, family members might feel like something is wrong with them because they don't feel like life is improving any. They shouldn't worry - THIS IS QUITE NORMAL and a way to alleviate more worrying - or more worrying about how other family members are doing with all the new changes - is to gain support outside of the family group.

Here's an Al-Anon/AlaTeen link that has more information:

Al-Anon/Alateen









1 comment:

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