How to treat drug and alcohol addictions - Part 2

In my previous article - The Brain and addictions - I mentioned that addictions are largely created by headmind obsessions allied to dopamine deficiency (caused in part by drug abuse itself). In this article I am going to start writing about how you can erase the addiction.

 

Before reading on you might also want to read an article I wrote about this subject two years ago - 6 ways to get rid of an addiction before reading this one.

 

A thing to bear in mind when reading this is that my approach has nothing to do with Alcoholics Anonymous or it's spin-off Narcotics Anonymous. I will write more about this on another occasion but bear in mind, for now, that I don't believe the AA approach actually works for many people.

Unlike AA I don't recognise the tem 'alcoholism' and nor do I believe that misuse of alcohol or drugs represents a disease. What I mean by an 'addiction' is out-of-control drug or alcohol use which has effects on your personal life you would rather not have. For example: legal prosecution, relationship breakdown, job loss, financial problems, personal degradation, etc.   

One thing that is clear to me is that treating addictions is a complex matter. Although getting rid of an addiction can be straight-forward it is not necessarily easy.  

As shown in the diagram my approach addresses five different factors:

 

1. The most important one is the Addictive Voice which resides in Headmind. I have referred to this subject before in my articles on Headmind. It is continually chattering on about the need to have a drink or consume some drugs now. It uses problems in each of the surrounding four zones as an 'excuse' for using. For example, it can tell you that you are feeling bad (Physical state) and you need a fix; or that you are so stressed you really need to get drunk now; or that life is so meaningless (Fulfilment zone) that all you have left is drugs; or that since you are right near your dealer's Tube station etc. you might as well go ahead and have some. Switching attention away from that hypnotic message in your head is crucial to success.

 

2. I have already written about the Physical State Zone and you can read more about that here. In addition to dopamine deficiency as a problem, however, we also need to address feelings of anxiety, depression or boredom which the Addicitive Voice also uses as excuses to indulge.

 

3. The Stress zone relates to situations which trigger increased anxiety, tension or agitation. There is no reason why Stress should lead to misue of alcohol but the Hypnotic Inner Voice will use this as an excuse to indulge. Reducing stressors will reduce the power of the inner voice.

 

4. Nearly all the drug users and alcoholics I have ever met have been profoundly disatisfied with their lives. And most of those people, too, suffer from boredom. Unless you have a connection to Personal Genius and several important reasons to live then drugs and alcohol might have some powerful attractions for you.

 

5. The Danger zone refers to those most tempting situations in which you are most likely to get drunk or drugged up. They include your drinking buddies, your favourite bar, 'that time of day', having spare cash on you, a bottle of wine in your fridge, or keeping your dealer's phone number on your mobile. Eliminating your triggers makes it harder for you to slide in to the zone, even when your Addictive Voice is clamouring for you to go and get involved.

I will be writing more about how to solve each of these five issues in future articles.

 

 

 

Comments

[Angela]

Thanks for covering this, John. It is so useful as it enables people to assume responsibility for their behaviour and not feel unable to control their addictions. Having mastery of yourself and your choices is necessary to live as a fulfilled human being exercising freewill in a healthy way. When talking with people who have addictions they often use excuses which other therapists have provided for them. The excuses give them permission to stay stuck and so they continue to feel and act hopeless. Your approach shows the way out. Keep up the good work!