Pondering on a Tuesday morning
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Mobile, Alabama
Posts: 19
Pondering on a Tuesday morning
I was sitting here thinking about my SO. She went pretty far down the cycle of addiction. Turns out that she had an extremely traumatic event which got her started down that path. She began using cocaine to self medicate-I am sure of that.
She's now getting counseling on that event, for which I am grateful.
All of this got me thinking-it seems that a lot of (perhaps most) addicts are self medicating themselves, and it gets out of hand. So to break free of the addiction, you need to address the underlying traumatic event or situation, to help eliminate the pain.
Does this sound right?
She's now getting counseling on that event, for which I am grateful.
All of this got me thinking-it seems that a lot of (perhaps most) addicts are self medicating themselves, and it gets out of hand. So to break free of the addiction, you need to address the underlying traumatic event or situation, to help eliminate the pain.
Does this sound right?
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Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: twilight zone,usa
Posts: 3,909
i beleive that too. it is also a known fact that it starts out with" but everybody does it"..recreational. it does not matter how they start out it was a bad choice & then it is all about blame.they will blame something or somebody. it is not your fault & not your problem.try to keep the focus on you & your recovery. she is the only one that can help herself & until she is ready to quit she want.i know that is hard to accept but that is another fact. i am sorry for the pain she is causing you. do you go to meetings? they help alot.
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Hackettstown, NJ
Posts: 692
Actually, no, I don't believe there is an "underlying traumatic event" anymore than there is such an underlying emotional trauma behind cancer or heart disease. Some addicts (many) do self-medicate, in that they started to use drugs to change the way they felt about themselves. I personally fell into this category. But I was an addict separate and apart from any childhood 'issues' I had. Many addicts just started to use because kids/teens do that, and something about the high just grabbed them and they couldn't stop.
Before addiction was widely understood and widely treated, the thinking was to send the addict/alcoholic to a psychologist (not an addictions counselor- there were none of those), where their underlying problem would be treated. Once the underlying problem was treated, the addiction would disappear, or so the thinking went. Even the professionals themselves believed this. My mother believed this, and sent me to several psychologists and one psychiatrist before I was out of high school. I continued to use drugs and got worse. Only treatment (detox, rehab, 12 step recovery) got me to stop using drugs and treat my addiction. That doesn't mean I can't and haven't benefitted from therapy. But only after I got clean, BTW.
Nowadays, the thinking in the mental health profession, pretty much world-wide, is to urge/send the addict to addiction treatment immediately, before further psychological treatment or therapy can work. Good thing, too. there are many recovering addicts in my NA area who were 'referred' to meetings or inpatient treatment for addiction by there shrinks. Addiction is considered a separate illness, and no longer a symptom of some other disorder that will disappear if the other disorder goes away. so that I can suffer from depression AND from the disease of addiction and treating will not cure the other.
As far as some single traumatic event, not likely. Its a complex disease that is both physical and mental and is also a chronic, permanent disease. We are always addicts; the choice is whether to be a recovering addict, a using addict, or a dead addict.
Before addiction was widely understood and widely treated, the thinking was to send the addict/alcoholic to a psychologist (not an addictions counselor- there were none of those), where their underlying problem would be treated. Once the underlying problem was treated, the addiction would disappear, or so the thinking went. Even the professionals themselves believed this. My mother believed this, and sent me to several psychologists and one psychiatrist before I was out of high school. I continued to use drugs and got worse. Only treatment (detox, rehab, 12 step recovery) got me to stop using drugs and treat my addiction. That doesn't mean I can't and haven't benefitted from therapy. But only after I got clean, BTW.
Nowadays, the thinking in the mental health profession, pretty much world-wide, is to urge/send the addict to addiction treatment immediately, before further psychological treatment or therapy can work. Good thing, too. there are many recovering addicts in my NA area who were 'referred' to meetings or inpatient treatment for addiction by there shrinks. Addiction is considered a separate illness, and no longer a symptom of some other disorder that will disappear if the other disorder goes away. so that I can suffer from depression AND from the disease of addiction and treating will not cure the other.
As far as some single traumatic event, not likely. Its a complex disease that is both physical and mental and is also a chronic, permanent disease. We are always addicts; the choice is whether to be a recovering addict, a using addict, or a dead addict.
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