BayAreaPhoenix

From "Addictive Thinking, Understand Self-Deception" by Abraham J. Twerski, J.D.

paragraphs from Chapter Title: Ridiculous Explanations, Sensible Solutions:

"The addictive person's thinking processes may be so affected by the action of chemicals on the brain that the wildest self-contradictions and inconsistencies in behavior are understandable. Indeed, when addicted people recover and look back at the irrational behavior, they are frequently amazed at how they thought and acted. What is less understandable is how and why the significant others in the addict's environment, whose minds are unaltered by chemicals, fall prey to so much distorted thought and behavior." ...

"This is why the concept of addictive thinking is so important to understand. Addictive thinking exists and operates in every addicted person and, to a greater or lesser degree, in the significant others." ...

"It may be asking too much of active addicts to try to discover whether their perceptions are real or distorted. But people whose brains are unaffected by chemicals and who relate to a chemical user would be wise to check out their own thinking, as well as put the addict's behavior in property perspective." ...

"The mother of a young man who was destroying himself with alcohol and other drugs could not understand how he could be so oblivious to the disastrous effects that chemicals were having on his life. She asked for help in dealing with him. 'But don't tell me I have to put him out of the house or that I should not bail him out of jail' she said. 'I don't want to hear that.' ...she had been unable to see that her own thinking was no less distorted than her son's. Why was her thinking distorted? Because when she bailed him out of jail or didn't put him out of the house, she enabled him to go on using chemicals without seeing the magnititude of the problem. She kept him from his rock-bottom experience from which recovery would be possible."

BayAreaPhoenix

I was reading this chapter to a friend of mine last night over the phone. She is a mutual friend of AH too, and is trying to understand... She lives across the country. While there was not much I could say, she said listening to this chapter helped her some (she's going to go buy her own copy) and I thought I'd share some bits and pieces.

Here's to another week! Happy Monday to all!

:ghug

greeteachday

Thanks for sharing this.
I remember doing soimething similar with my sister when my daughter died. She needed desperately to understand addiction so she could understand what happened. I loaded her up with NA literature and Melodie Beatty readings...It helps, I think. Understanding can bring acceptance..