Substance Abuse – Page 2

The Origin of “Addiction”

A Reading of The Urge: Our History of Addiction, Part II The first time someone used the word addict in English, he was criticizing the Pope. Since then, the word has been used millions of times about all kinds of people. The meaning has changed. Yet, in a sense, the original meaning remains the same.

The Spectrum of Addiction

A Reading of The Urge: Our History of Addiction, Part I I’d like to devote a few posts to chew over Carl Erik Fisher’s book, The Urge: Our History of Addiction. Fisher is an addiction psychiatrist, bioethicist, and assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University.

Wreckage on the Road to Reconciliation:

The Helpless I’m glad I didn’t decide to be an experimental psychologist. If I had, I might’ve had to lock dogs up in cages and shock them for the sake of science. As it is, others can do it and we can benefit from the things they learned by doing so. Continue reading →

Wreckage on the Road to Reconciliation

Meaningful Suffering Versus Becoming an Impossible Martyr Is the hurt you are experiencing from your loved one providing the meaning and purpose to your life? Continue reading →

Victims in Denial

One type you’ll see on the side of the road to reconciliation are the Deniers. You’ll see them, but they won’t see you. They’re blind, deaf, and insensible to touch. They only know what they want to know, what’s convenient to them, what fits in the worldview they feel they must have. If the evidenceContinue reading “Victims in Denial”

Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse: You can’t stop cravings from knocking at the door, but you don’t have to answer

You could stop using whatever it is that is destroying you and you will still think about it from time to time. You’ll have dreams of using. A beer truck might roll by and you’ll feel thirsty. That old life will seem good every now and then. You could have some very good reasons toContinue reading “Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse: You can’t stop cravings from knocking at the door, but you don’t have to answer”

Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse: When you stop using your drug, you find the real issue

“Ask one of the patients at your unit if you could interview him,” my professor said, giving me a tape recorder. “Ask him if he would tell you why he uses drugs.” I said I would. I was ready. I wanted to know why people use drugs. I was an intern at a chemical dependencyContinue reading “Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse: When you stop using your drug, you find the real issue”

Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse, Part 20: Those who care the most about you will be the last to believe in your recovery

If you’re an addict in recovery, you may have already noticed this. Those who are closest to you are the last to believe you’re changing. Your wife, your husband, mother, father, children, close friends, don’t get as excited as you do when you celebrate one week clean, one month clean, or one year clean. They’veContinue reading “Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse, Part 20: Those who care the most about you will be the last to believe in your recovery”

Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse, Part 19: While you’ve been collecting key chains at your NA meeting, your addiction has been doing pushups in the dark

So, you’ve stopped drinking or drugging. The addiction seems to have gone away. Has it, really? Addiction takes cover sometimes when it feels threatened. It’ll hide in the bushes and come roaring out when you least suspect it. Make no mistake, addiction is cunning, baffling, and very, very patient. While you’ve been collecting key ringsContinue reading “Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse, Part 19: While you’ve been collecting key chains at your NA meeting, your addiction has been doing pushups in the dark”

Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse, Part 18: You don’t know what you can do

You could learn a lot about addiction and recovery by watching the Wizard of Oz. I’m not referring to the scene where Dorothy and her friends pass out in a field of poppies. That’s the only outright drug reference I can recall. I’m talking about the way Dorothy and her friends are traipsing all overContinue reading “Some Things You May Not Know About Substance Abuse, Part 18: You don’t know what you can do”