in post #12 the OP:
" The Positive Drive Principle (PDP)
The authors say that one of the key ideas of the model is the Positive Drive Principle, or PDP for short, and they define it simply as a drive to pursue happiness.
They say this about the PDP in the book:
We consider the following observation to be self-evident: every single person, in everything they do, is just trying to achieve/maintain a happy existence.
As simple as that statement is, it's turned out to be the most important insight we've had over the past three decades of running our retreats. It's important for understanding heavy substance use habits, and it's important for making changes in substance use habits. We call it the Positive Drive Principle or PDP for short, and define it simply as a drive to pursue happiness. We definitely aren't the first to make this observation. Great thinkers over the ages have noted it frequently.
In more personal terms perhaps they they also describe it like this:
From our beginnings of helping people almost 30 years ago, our approach has had a single defining theme in the pursuit of happiness. We have shown people that if they can develop the conviction that a change to their substance use habits will produce greater happiness, then they will happily, easily, and permanently change their habits for the better. They will get “unstuck” and move on. That is the natural way of personal change."
My questions/comments/criticisms with this principle are centered on how they deal with or if they deal with the more visceral aspects of intoxication. Their principle seems , to me at least based on the information provided in this thread, targets a person's estimation of their future happiness given they accept a lifestyle change. An estimation the authors presume every one would make given a rational and reasoned estimation of their current circumstances and how a change in their use habits would facilitate their happiness going forward.
That the recovery industry has fabricated the falsehood of 'addiction' as a disease or condition which 'makes' them stay stuck simply because they fail to recognize they would in fact be happier by choosing to see that a lifestyle change would bring that happiness and to let go of the idea that their current lifestyle is a path to that end.
But how do they reconcile not being able to get high , that moment (?) when an individual realizes the last high was just that, the very last time that(those) sensation(s) were the last time they would ever experience it?
Speaking for myself I always knew being free of the negative consequences of self intoxication would be a happier existence, just for the fact of not experiencing the negatives, but that in and of itself didn't stop the desire for intoxication.
I don't see this principle as a way to quit, it seems like a good round about way to feel happy about having quit( end an addiction) , I just can't see this principle working as a course of action to ensure never getting the chance to get high again.