REPOST: Myths About Addiction: “They Could Stop If They Wanted To”

In her blog entry for PsychCentral.com, Donna M. White discussed some of the notions people have on drug addiction and uncovered the real truth about substance abuse.

Image source: psychcentral.com

Whether we like to admit it or not, we all have our own ideas of what an addict looks like. We have our beliefs about why they engage in the behaviors they engage in and why they just won’t quit.

This is also true for addicts themselves. Often it is difficult to overcome addiction because of the perception of what addiction really is.

But the truth of addiction is sometimes hidden behind common, long-standing myths. So here are some of those common myths — and the real truth — about addicts and addiction.

• Addicts can stop if they really want to.Research shows that long-term substance use alters brain chemistry. These changes can cause intense cravings, impulse control issues, and the compulsion to continue to use. Due to these chemical changes it is very difficult for a true addict to quit solely by willpower and determination.
• Addicts can’t be productive members of society.Many often believe that addicts are unemployed, involved in criminal behaviors, homeless, and have a host of interpersonal issues. While this is sometimes true, there are many addicts that continue to “function” in society by remaining employed, providing for their families, being involved in family activities, and not appearing to be an addict.
• Addiction only affects those who are weak, uneducated, or have low morals.Addiction does not discriminate. Addiction affects the lives of people of all ages, ethnicities, cultures, religions, communities, and socioeconomic statuses. Addiction is not a result of low morals. Often addicts behave in ways that violate their personal beliefs, values, and morals. Addiction is an equal opportunity disease.
• Addiction is a disease, so there is nothing you can do about it.If your doctor told you that you had cancer, would you not begin necessary treatment and making the necessary lifestyle changes? Addiction isn’t much different if you believe in the research that suggests that addiction is a disease of the brain. Just because you have the disease of addiction doesn’t mean you throw in the towel. Research shows that the brain damage resulting from substance use can sometimes be reversed through abstinence, therapy, and other forms of treatment.
• Addicts who relapse are hopeless.Addiction is a chronic disorder. Just as a pathological liar has to work continuously on honesty, an addict has to commit to working on not using. Addicts are most prone to relapse in the first few months of being clean and sober. A relapse does not constitute failure. Processing the events surrounding a relapse can be healthy and aid in preventing future relapses.
• Alcohol and drug use cause addiction.There are several factors that contribute to a person becoming addicted to substances. While alcohol and drugs may trigger a substance use problem for some, there are those who can drink alcohol and experiment with drug use and never become addicted. Factors that contribute include environment, emotional health, mental health, and genetic predisposition.
• Addicts should be excused from negative behaviors.Some may believe since addiction is a disease addicts should not be held accountable for their actions. This is not true. An addict may not be responsible for their disease, but they are responsible for their choices and their recovery.

It is easy to judge and criticize what we don’t understand. You don’t have to walk a mile in addicts’ shoes to understand addiction and addictive behaviors. If someone you know is struggling with an addiction, consider learning more about addiction and extend a helping hand instead of hurtful words.

Visit Dr. Sam Klein Von Reiche’s official website to learn more about breaking free from substance abuse.

At war with one’s vices: It is not always cold turkey

Image source: totallywicked-eliquid.co.uk

Turning one’s back on cigarette and liquor (or any kind of vice for that matter—addiction to TV, over-dependence on love, unhealthy obsession with solitude) is not a simple attempt, especially when done abruptly. It is painfully excruciating and severely agonizing.

Even the late Sir John Lennon knew how it felt.

Cold turkey, or the sudden and complete termination of taking or doing something addictive, seems to be the first step most people do to begin a healthier life. They think obtaining sobriety or any vice-free life is achievable by simply saying “I quit” today and doing it the following days. However, people often end up defeated by the cessation of the vice itself, for it has been part of their system for years, giving them withdrawal syndromes, such as sweating, nausea, intermittent and involuntary shaking of the hands, and insomnia, which lure them to retreating back to the cause of addiction and to a series of incessant failures.

Image source: media.npr.org

On seeking professional help
There is nothing really wrong with battling addiction personally—at least initially. In fact, some experts do not advise their patients to go straight to them if they think that the problem can be addressed by the patient. However, some people think that telling trivial quandaries, like drinking and smoking, to a doctor is funny and ridiculous, because belief has it that only drug-related cases are the ones that need a psychiatric touch. This belief results to a deeper problem: People just erase the idea of treating their addiction medically and rely completely on battling it alone through cold turkey.

People should know that cold turkey is a very solitary process of healing that might put the patient in a more detrimental dilemma—and this time, it is not just addiction but a more complex psychological problem.

Image source: intervene.drugfree.org

Dr. Samuelle Klein Von Reiche is a psychotherapist based in Clifton, New Jersey. Her website provides more information on recovering from an addiction.

Plan to Become an Ex-Smoker for Good

This article by Jane E. Brody was published in the online edition of The New York Times. It explores way on how to quit smoking for real.

Few smokers would claim that it’s easy to quit. The addiction to nicotine is strong and repeatedly reinforced by circumstances that prompt smokers to light up.

Yet the millions who have successfully quit are proof that a smoke-free life is achievable, even by those who have been regular, even heavy, smokers for decades.

Today, 19 percent of American adults smoke, down from more than 42 percent half a century ago, when Luther Terry, the United States surgeon general, formed a committee to produce the first official report on the health effects of smoking. Ever-increasing restrictions on where people can smoke have helped to swell the ranks of former smokers.

Now, however, as we approach the American Cancer Society’s 37th Great American Smokeout on Thursday, the decline in adult smoking has stalled despite the economic downturn and the soaring price of cigarettes.

Currently, 45 million Americans are regular smokers who, if they remain smokers, can on average expect to live 10 fewer years. Half will die of a tobacco-related disease, and many others will suffer for years with smoking-caused illness. Smoking adds $96 billion to the annual cost of medical care in this country, Dr. Nancy A. Rigotti wrote in The Journal of the American Medical Association last month. Even as some adult smokers quit, their ranks are being swelled by the 800,000 teenagers who become regular smokers each year and by young adults who, through advertising and giveaways, are now the prime targets of the tobacco industry.

People ages 18 to 25 now have the nation’s highest smoking rate: 40 percent. I had to hold my breath the other day as dozens of 20-somethings streamed out of art gallery openings and lighted up. Do they not know how easy it is to get hooked on nicotine and how challenging it can be to escape this addiction?

Challenging, yes, but by no means impossible. On the Web you can download a “Guide to Quitting Smoking,” with detailed descriptions of all the tools and tips to help you become an ex-smoker once and for all.

Or consult the new book by Dr. Richard Brunswick, a retired family physician in Northampton, Mass., who says he’s helped hundreds of people escape the clutches of nicotine and smoking. (The printable parts of the book’s provocative title are “Can’t Quit? You Can Stop Smoking.”)

“There is no magic pill or formula for beating back nicotine addiction,” Dr. Brunswick said. “However, with a better understanding of why you smoke and the different tools you can use to control the urge to light up, you can stop being a slave to your cigarettes.”

Addiction and Withdrawal

Nicotine beats a direct path to the brain, where it provides both relaxation and a small energy boost. But few smokers realize that the stress and lethargy they are trying to relieve are a result of nicotine withdrawal, not some underlying distress. Break the addiction, and the ill feelings are likely to dissipate.

Physical withdrawal from nicotine is short-lived. Four days without it and the worst is over, with remaining symptoms gone within a month, Dr. Brunswick said. But emotional and circumstantial tugs to smoke can last much longer.

Depending on when and why you smoke, cues can include needing a break from work, having to focus on a challenging task, drinking coffee or alcohol, being with other people who smoke or in places you associate with smoking, finishing a meal or sexual activity, and feeling depressed or upset.

To break such links, you must first identify them and then replace them with other activities, like taking a walk, chewing sugar-free gum or taking deep breaths. These can help you control cravings until the urge passes.

If you’ve failed at quitting before, try to identify what went wrong and do things differently this time, Dr. Brunswick suggests. Most smokers need several attempts before they can become permanent ex-smokers.

Perhaps most important is to be sure you are serious about quitting; if not, wait until you are. Motivation is half the battle. Also, should you slip and have a cigarette after days or weeks of not smoking, don’t assume you’ve failed and give up. Just go right back to not smoking.

Aids for Quitting

Many if not most smokers need two kinds of assistance to become lasting ex-smokers: psychological support and medicinal aids. Only about 4 percent to 7 percent of people are able to quit smoking on any given attempt without help, the cancer society says.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia have free telephone-based support programs that connect would-be quitters to trained counselors. Together, you can plan a stop-smoking method that suits your smoking pattern and helps you avoid common pitfalls.

Online support groups and Nicotine Anonymous can help as well. To find a group, ask a local hospital or call the cancer society at (800) 227-2345. Consider telling relatives and friends about your intention to quit, and plan to spend time in smoke-free settings.

More than a dozen treatments can help you break the physical addiction to tobacco. Most popular is nicotine replacement therapy, sold both with and without a prescription. The Food and Drug Administration has approved five types: nicotine patches of varying strengths, gums, sprays, inhalers and lozenges that can curb withdrawal symptoms and help you gradually reduce your dependence on nicotine.

Two prescription drugs are also effective: an extended-release form of the antidepressant bupropion (Zyban or Wellbutrin), which reduces nicotine cravings, and varenicline (Chantix), which blocks nicotine receptors in the brain, reducing both the pleasurable effects of smoking and the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal. Combining a nicotine replacement with one of these drugs is often more effective than either approach alone.

Other suggested techniques, like hypnosis and acupuncture, have helped some people quit but lack strong proof of their effectiveness. Tobacco lozenges and pouches and nicotine lollipops and lip balms lack evidence as quitting aids, and no clinical trials have been published showing that electronic cigarettes can help people quit.

The cancer society suggests picking a “quit day”; ridding your home, car and workplace of smoking paraphernalia; choosing a stop-smoking plan, and stocking up on whatever aids you may need.

On the chosen day, keep active; drink lots of water and juices; use a nicotine replacement; change your routine if possible; and avoid alcohol, situations you associate with smoking and people who are smoking.

####