I have heard many reasons why people started using mind-and-mood-altering substances. They range from escaping reality, coping with trauma, social lubricant, managing anxiety, managing stress, suppressing or expressing emotions, excitement, etc. These reasons are all true, however, when one loses control over the consumption of your drug of choice, are you using it to cope or are you using because you are addicted. When you are addicted and you believe that you are using because of some underlying issue, it implies that when you have resolved that underlying issue you would be able to use with control again. This might be true for a large cohort of people who use mind and mood-altering substances, however, not so for people who are addicted. They have lost the ability to control their use/drinking, and experience shows that they will not regain the ability to control the consumption of their drug of choice. This is the crux of addiction. It is a primary illness which needs to be treated. This, of course, does not mean that addicts do not have concurrent issues like trauma, anxiety, depression etc. These issues need to be addressed as they are high relapse factors for addicts when they are committed to abstinence. They are often factors which cause the addict to pick up the first drink or drug, once that happens the addiction manifests in that they cannot control the amount they consume.
Thus a vital part of any addiction treatment process needs to include effective coping skills to deal with anxiety, difficult emotions, past trauma etc. For addicts learning to live life without drug and alcohol is the greatest challenge.
SHARING IS CARING
