Addiction Treatment
Addiction Treatment
Addiction treatment can take many forms. For some, it’s therapy. For others, medication or rehabs are more effective alternatives. Recent research supports the notion that no one addiction treatment is effective for everyone.
Unless we understand what addiction really is our efforts to treat it simply won’t work. The addiction treatment you choose needs to fit into the plan you decide to follow to solve your problem. Otherwise, you may become confused and not quite understand what you need to do to finally take control of your life and break with your addictive habits.
Addiction Defined
Let’s face it, behaviors and substances that make us feel good have been with humankind since the very beginning of recorded history. They make us feel better and that’s not always a bad thing – when they are enjoyed in moderation. However, for some folks, their indulgence is taken to levels that are anything but moderate
Take note of what the substances or behaviors that people become addicted to have in common: all have the ability to change the way we feel. Whether it is alcohol, drugs, video games, overeating, gambling or sky diving, we become addicted to changes in our consciousness. No one becomes addicted to celery or folding or watching paint dry. If drugs make us feel better rather than, say, spending time with family, we will usually turn to drugs when we feel badly rather than the less effective method of talking to family members.
Over time, if the drugs work more consistently and predictably to provide the “attitude adjustment” we are looking for, we will turn to them more and more. Over time more healthy or adaptive methods such as sustaining friendships or playing basketball become less attractive and shrink in importance. Addiction in my view is an end state where all or most our adaptive mechanisms have atrophied and there is only one method (or combination of methods) that works efficiently, effectively, and predictably to make us feel better. You are dependent on it to allow you to feel emotional equilibrium. It is typically at this point that people are suffering from the consequences of their over-reliance on a particular substance or behavior.
Addiction, then, is a way of making one feel better that has gone awry. It describes a state where a behavior or substance dominates a person’s emotional priorities and leads to actions that have negative consequences. Since these indulgences work rapidly, it is easy to behave recklessly rather than responsibly. These actions can cause a change in priorities that some people call loss of self-control. You may have become “wired” to behave in a certain way and your system may need “rewiring.”
These indulgences may lead to pleasurable feelings at first but as your tolerance for these substances or behaviors increases, their effects usually begin to wear off. More and more is needed to do get less and less of the desired effect—or even just to feel “normal.”
There is still major controversy surrounding whether addiction is a disease or a learned behavior. I take the position that it’s not an either/or but rather that both contribute to the phenomenon we call addiction.
If you feel that you have reached a tipping point where a behavior or substance seems to have a great deal of control over your life, then addiction treatment may be a wise option for you.
Addiction Treatment Options
Once you make the choice to get help to overcome addictive behavior, you will need to educate yourself about the various addiction treatment options available to you.
The most common type of addiction treatment in the United States is the 12-Step Program. However, the assumed success and effectiveness of the various 12-step programs has become a very controversial topic. For a growing number of people, programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous are beginning to be less and less attractive.
Traditional 12-Step programs demand that an individual seeking help label themselves as an alcoholic or drug addict, attend weekly (sometimes daily) meetings, subscribe to a belief in a higher power, deny their ability to manage their own lives and view themselves as victims of a life-long illness that can never be cured.
Because of the irrational attitudes and strict quasi-religious requirements of these programs, many people have successfully sought out alternative addiction treatment methods more in tune with their own beliefs and values.
Although not as many people know much about them, there are science- based addiction treatments that often have successful results.
My Methodology
I offer a completely logical and rational addiction treatment system for taking control of addiction problems for people from all walks of life.
Using the tools and techniques I provide, you will learn to modify or abandon the addiction pattern I outlined above. Then you will be able to choose and begin to apply healthier and less emotionally driven decision-making skills to your addiction problem. My method is designed to encourage self-reliance and let you begin to trust in your own ability to take control of your life choices.. Whether your goal is abstinence, moderation, or harm reduction, I will assist you in reaching your self-defined goals. You can change your behavior and your life without giving up your independence or your self-respect.
You are the only one who can change your life for the better. I’m here to support you with tools and techniques that let you help yourself become happier, healthier, and free from habits that are keeping you from living the life you want to live. Contact me today to learn more about an alternative approach too breaking the pattern of addiction.
There are many addiction treatment options available. I offer proven techniques that have successfully aided thousands. My methodology is an alternative to the traditional 12-Step addiction treatment approach.
