“The knowledge that some neural changes associated with addiction persist despite long periods of abstinence is important because it supports clinical wisdom that recovery from addiction is a lifelong process,” says Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry.http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/09/24/addicted-for-life/59862.html
Showing posts with label Attempting to Understand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Attempting to Understand. Show all posts
Oct 6, 2013
Oct 5, 2013
Why Addictions Are So Hard To Break
Peeling back another layer of the addiction onion
Published on August 15, 2012 by Jennifer Kunst, Ph.D. in A Headshrinker's Guide to the Galaxy
Published on August 15, 2012 by Jennifer Kunst, Ph.D. in A Headshrinker's Guide to the Galaxy
Using an addiction to deal with upset feelings creates the very problems it was intended to solve. Addictions backfire. The painful feelings that were to be avoided actually increase a thousand-fold. The deeper you get into it, the MORE you feel depressed, anxious, angry, and hopeless, not less. You LOSE control rather than gain it. In order to break the addiction, you must come to see that it does not deliver what it promises. If you can see it for what it really is rather than what you imagine it to be, then you have the chance to let it go.
Sep 18, 2013
Aug 31, 2013
Aug 24, 2013
Jul 6, 2013
The Relational Roots of Addiction
http://www.psychologytoday.com/em/127631
The goal is to begin replacing the abuse/dependence on substances with actual human connections;
The tragedy for so many of my addicted patients is not that they live in isolation and both yearn and fear closeness to others; it’s that they’ve come to the conviction that this is the only way to proceed.
Addiction provides temporary relief -- emotional regulation that was otherwise unavailable. It can make the addicted person feel temporarily "regular".
"... the child is often rebuked or punished for “complaining” or “making trouble” by drawing attention to his or her pain and despair. Such pain is dismissed, minimized or ignored. Thus to even acknowledge the pain of the abandonment or injury is “wrong,” since it rocks the boat, draws the risk of being exiled, perhaps forever.
Such terror makes an imprint on the nervous system that is hard to change; a traumatized child must develop maladaptive behaviors and beliefs to survive this dark and chaotic world, to avoid “burdening” those close to her with her very human developmental needs. Best if these needs just go away and never come back.
...they are an inseparable part of us... They demand soothing, and will find it, even unconsciously, via drugs or alcohol.
Thus drinking or using becomes a “provisional” relationship to fill in the psychic cavities left by these early traumas. The fractured, wounded person is able to satiate, soothe or stimulate himself to the point of finally feeling whole! This is the euphoria reported by those who learn to love booze or drugs, which become so much more reliable than anyone or anything else before. Finally, one is able to regulate and not feel so out of control, fractured or wounded.
...the strange paradox that the more a patient and I accept drugs or alcohol as providing some kind of essential emotional/relational function, rather than being simply “wrong”, the easier it is to give up.
The goal is to begin replacing the abuse/dependence on substances with actual human connections;
The tragedy for so many of my addicted patients is not that they live in isolation and both yearn and fear closeness to others; it’s that they’ve come to the conviction that this is the only way to proceed.
May 18, 2013
Oct 11, 2012
Sep 29, 2012
Mindfulness, Meditation, and Addiction
Staying in the moment can help deal with long-term struggles
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-about-addiction/201110/mindfulness-meditation-and-addiction
...is often an attempt to go somewhere else, emotionally and mentally. Very little time and energy are spent noticing the present moment, except to try and change your experience.
Mindfulness teaches that instead of trying to avoid your experience, which has been associated with a host of mental and emotional disorders, you adopt an inquisitive and observing attitude toward your thoughts, feelings, and circumstances.
Can You Outsmart Addiction? By DAVID SACK, M.D.
Can You Outsmart Addiction | Link between Intelligence and Addiction | Addiction Recovery:
Addiction doesn’t care how smart you are or how much money you make. Your wits may serve you well in many areas of life, but you simply can’t think your way out of a drug or alcohol problem. Certainly, learning about the disease and understanding its biological roots is an important part of recovery. But a much bigger – and more challenging – goal is developing the emotional intelligence and practical coping skills to change your daily life
Stop Worrying About What Others Think | The Gentle Self
Stop Worrying About What Others Think | The Gentle Self:
Remember, it’s nothing but a person’s opinion. We give others authority over whether their remark get through to us. We have the power to reject them or allow them to find their way in.
Nursing a Broken Heart? These 12 Tips Could Help | World of Psychology
Nursing a Broken Heart? These 12 Tips Could Help | World of Psychology
When you turn your attention to another person–especially someone who is struggling with the same kind of pain–you forget about yourself for a split moment. And let’s face it, that, on some days, feels like a miracle.
Sep 1, 2012
Recovery = Abstinence... Or not
There is nothing more that I want than this.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-about-addiction/201112/recovery-abstinence-or-not
"I've been saying that we should be moving to a different definition, one that focuses on improvement in quality of life, as the basis for whether someone is in recovery or not. You see as far as I'm concerned it doesn't matter whether a person is using any substances - all I care about is the impact of such use on their well being, their "quality of life.""by Adi Jaffe, Ph.D.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-about-addiction/201112/recovery-abstinence-or-not
Aug 22, 2012
“I’m a drug addict turned neuroscientist.”
"...addictive drugs demonstrate “the fundamental chemistry of learning which really means learning what feels good and how to get more of it. Yet there’s a downside: the slippery slope, the repetition compulsion, that constitutes addiction. In other words, addiction may be a form of learning gone bad."
"If drugs are such feel-good engines, what goes wrong? Something big. “Because when drugs (or booze, sex, or gambling) are nowhere to be found, when the horizon is empty of their promise, the humming motor of the orbitofrontal cortex sputters to a halt. Orbitofrontal cells go dormant and dopamine just stops. Like a religious fundamentalist, the addict’s brain has only two stable states: rapture and disinterest. Addictive drugs convert the brain to recognize only one face of God, to thrill to only one suitor.” The addict’s world narrows. Dopamine becomes “specialized, stilted, inaccessible through the ordinary pleasures and pursuits of life, but gushing suddenly when anything associated with the drug comes into awareness…. I wish this were just an exercise in biological reductionism, or neuro-scientific chauvinism, but it’s not. It’s the way things really work.”
Dr. Marc Lewis
Aug 18, 2012
Top 10 Great Things About Being Addicted
Submitted by gen z on August 17, 2012 - 12:52pm.
"You get to be told everyday on how thin you are."
"People remember you FIRST when things get lost around the house."
Everything written here is so sarcastically true, I'm torn between laughing or crying about it.
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