Addiction
My approach to working with addiction in its many forms
Addiction can be described as an immersive, compelling experience best described as a trance. Whether powered by substances or behaviours; the ability to function in society and in life is compromised as the preoccupation is in maintaining the trance by protecting the supply to sustain the effect – a vicious circle
We could go as far as likening addiction to being possessed (I don’t mean by the Devil!) but in the thrall of a trance. Addiction is after all an altered state of consciousness and control is exercised by repetitive habitual behaviour and not by free will. While the extent of free will can be argued, it is at least the ability to make choices, to seek and pursue alternative options whether attainable or not, it is the ability to imagine something else rather than the limitation of a narrow, repeated behaviour and mind-set.
To take the metaphor further, addiction could be seen as a parasitical manipulation. In his Ted Talk: “Zombie roaches and other parasite tales”, science writer Ed Yong describes the many ways that parasites control their hosts to ensure their survival. https://www.ted.com/talks/ed_yong_zombie_roaches_and_other_parasite_tales/transcript
Here’s the example of the suicidal cricket: “This cricket swallowed the larvae of a Gordian worm, or horsehair worm. The worm grew to adult size within it, but it needs to get into water in order to mate, and it does that by releasing proteins that addle the cricket's brain, causing it to behave erratically. When the cricket nears a body of water, such as this swimming pool, it jumps in and drowns, and the worm wriggles out of its suicidal corpse.”
You might think that the image of parasitical manipulation is too extreme or dramatic to apply to addiction which doesn’t have a life without the addict to host it; nevertheless the parallel is there. Which brings us to the point; addiction is voluntary or was once. Of course, a physical dependence on a substance does need to be dealt with through a detox first, leaving the usually deeply-engrained behaviours to be managed.
The roots of addiction are many and varied, including through social anxiety, recreational use that got out of hand, as a response to trauma or managing difficult situations, such as job loss, relationship breakdown, bereavement, stress and embedded behavioural patterns among others. Also undiagnosed mental heath issues and possibly neuro-divergence. The roots may be lost in the mists of time or more recent, but the consequences are present every day and are invariably destructive and a source of unhappiness for ourselves and for those we are close to.
In my experience, no one caught in the web of addiction stops and stays stopped until they are ready. Being ready means being sick of the repetition, the physical and emotional effects, the loss of closeness to others and at long last, perhaps a sense of emerging self-preservation. It's a big ask to expect someone who's been unconscious (caught in an addictive trance) for years to suddenly choose to become conscious and approach their problems in the spirit of enquiry. The first port of call is often to defend the trance of addiction which provided at least a semblance of comfort. That comfort, however illusory, needs to be respected and its potential loss grieved, so an awareness of that process taking place is important for recovery to be supported. Also, the addiction cannot become taboo, the resourcefulness needs to be reflectively integrated and its purpose re-aligned to support recovery. All of this builds on the commitment to change, should you choose that and to maintaining a sustainable recovery. The point being that this may not be the right time and that decision is always respected.
Should we continue, the initial focus would be on relapse prevention (learning how to contain the impulses to act out) before any deeper work is attempted to avoid over-stimulation and so we can reflect on your motivation.
In my experience working in a Rehab, the mindfulness group that I ran weekly for seven years was successful in supporting clients to create a self- observer. Many clients came each week for their entire stay and used it well. We never sat for more than 5 minutes following our breathing and then talked about what that was like. Developing the skills of mindfulness can be helpful in creating a pause around acting out.
But clients need to be willing and not everyone is on second thoughts. Being fearful of change needs to be included as pressure to stop means pressure to use. If a client was unwilling to engage, I'd invite them to talk about their original impulse to get into treatment / into therapy and how they feel about that now?
So do you think you are ready to take the first steps in managing your addiction? If so, do you get in touch, and we’ll instigate a preliminary conversation and take it from there.