Addictions: waves at which you drown usStaff writer Man in his best years (you know, for men the best years last and last and last). Writer, beer drinker, interested in anything cool and nothing whatsoever. Lately, of course, I have found some studies that are talking about the brain chemistry and that say it might not be as simple as a choice. At least AFTER you have become addicted to anything anyhow. Shooting is not allowed Don't shoot me know, but I think a good comparison to non-substance addiction is love. Yes, I guess I've never truly been in love. But what is love? I mean other than self-generated addiction? You decide you like a person and everything that continues, the heart-ache, the kind-of obsession about the person, how is it anything else than let's say, addiction to gambling? Tell me and I will shut up. But I first want to hear what's the difference? Well, besides one being socially approved and accepted and the other not really. Do you feel me? I really am waiting for answers. In my mind they are pretty much the same thing. But I guess compared to years back, I have started to believe that such a thing as addiction (or self-inflicted obsession about something) does exist. And for anyone to claim otherwise is rather stupid. How do you get addicted (self-obsessed) to anything? Something you start doing, something you like doing for one reason or another. And at some point you get addicted to it. "Addicts are generally neither rational nor mature." - Julian I. Taber, Ph.D. [extract1] Julian I. Taber, Ph.D., clinical psychologist who specialized in the treatment of addictive behavior and was a recognized authority on problem gambling, said that "Addiction is a problem, but not THE problem." He continues in his book, Addictions Anonymous, "The addiction can't be stopped permanently if whatever else is wrong in the personality is not fixed." He says that the addiction prone person may have become so used to feeling awful that he thinks it is normal and unavoidable. The main point of Julian Taber is that the person, and the psychotherapist shouldn't be working with the addiction, but the underlying cause of the addiction. "It all comes down to feeling very unhappy most of the time without some mood altering addiction. The addictive solution is to reach for something that makes the bad feelings go away./.../ Really bad things in life can leave us with unremitting negative feelings. Addiction is self-medication for these negative feelings, but it is never a cure." (link) If you're a gambler, drinker or drug addict, once you have a "sober" moment, think about it a bit and tell yourself, why are you doing it? Post Your Comment |
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