in this video i'll be discussing the cycle of addiction, why addicts/alcoholics start to use or drink in the first place, why they can't stop, even when they start to lose everything, and if they DO stop, why relapses most commonly happen. I'm basically taking u through the way an addict and/or alcoholic's brain works and responds to stress in life. BUT, this won't be the scientific way, using medical terminology or going into brain chemistry and the reward pathway, this will just be a simple flow chart to get comfortable!
** I'm using a model in this video that I first learned during doctor's lectures at La Hacienda Treatment Center in Hunt, Texas. I always liked the model, and was re-presented it at the LaHacienda intensive outpatient program in Austin, and again at an IOP that isn't associated with LaHacienda in San Antonio, Texas (name kept private for my own safety reasons).
This is NOT my own theory or concept, just one that helped me that I am resharing.
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In one part of this video, I do discuss the debate over what I meant when I once said "only 15% of people have addiction". Some people decided that I meant 85% of people can safely use heroin, which absolutely is NOT what I meant. I only went into detail about that in this video to clear things up. I genuinely think that is the least important part. While I do think it's an interesting fact that helps in proving that it IS a distinguishable illness; in the grand scheme of things, I don't care if you believe there's a difference between the two or you think it's all the same. Either way, you deserve help and you deserve a better life and you're valid. The only reason that I EVER have found it important to state the 15% statistic, is because people often try to say addiction is 100% a choice and doesn't stem from any illness whatsoever. I think the fact that doctors have found that there is genuinely a unique enough brain chemistry found in all addicts way before they ever even pick up drugs or alcohol, proving it is more than just a bad choice, is something amazing.
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I think we all can agree that using drugs is a bad choice, and no addict is trying to ever say it wasn't. But we all have vices to cope with our pain, and when we have an illness that pushes one way of coping, it can make it extremely hard to fight if we don't take care of our mental health associated with it. Similar in ways to those with eating disorders, who are aware that they would be hurting their body to start those behaviors again when they are doing well. but, when they are in the pit of their illness, they very often have trouble seeing just how unhealthy they really are.
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-Here's a very good video about how opiates work in the brain for ALL people. It's promoted by harvard and nat geo, and clearly states in the video that some people will have a different experience getting off of opiates due to having the genetics/brain chemistry that make them deal with addiction differently than others. This video still focuses on how highly addictive opiates are for ALL people who consume them, which is why they're so dangerous, but doesn't overlook the fact that there are people who will deal with that situation slightly differently due to having clinical addiction.
*How opiates work in the brain: • This Is What Happens t...
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Rather you believe all of this about how addiction works in the brain or not, I am only repeating it because it's what helped me get sober. But when I treat addiction like it's a mental illness like this, and treat the problems before my brain can start the obsessive cycle, I succeed in staying sober. When I stop getting help, stop opening up, and begin to just think everything's fine since I've put down the drugs... suddenly a few weeks later I'm struggling so hard to not pick up, even though I know it'll ruin my life. So regardless of if you don't accept all the science out there that proves it's an illness as valid, just know I'm not speaking solely from believing a doctor, I'm speaking from my own personal experience that I lived through and felt in my own body. My main goal in all of this is to help other addicts who are struggling to understand themselves and struggling to get help understand that there are ways to get better,
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Remember if you have a loved one battling addiction, that Al-Anon is there to help YOU with the emotional issues that puts onto you. It helps you learn your responsibility in it all, when to healthily distance yourself, how to find peace with your situation, and just how much you can really help your loved one while still staying sane yourself.
It's fully anonymous, and open for all ages all over the united states.