The netpaper about Elftowners, by Elftowners, for Elftowners.
Cold Turkey
By [Runingwhispers]
Hi, my name is Alex – and I was an addict.
Researchers say that about one fifth of the planet has one form of addiction or the other. Among my preferences were caffeine, sugar, pain killers and the internet.
A few days ago someone described addictions as habitual behaviour, which in turn could be said to be a disciplined person’s routine activity. I know a good portion of my cash flow went to cafes and my bad back, and it did require a substantial amount of discipline to channel the funds necessary towards the goals I needed to achieve.
Then I went cold turkey.
Our bodies are designed with the ability to get “hooked” when we engage in repetitive activities. Nicotine, caffeine, sugar, work, alcohol, gambling, exercise and even sex are among the milder ones that may affect our social interaction, but morphine, amphetamines, heroin and controlled narcotics would defiantly get you in fairly big trouble (in certain countries they are legal but I stand to be corrected).
Professionals have proffered solutions as long as my arm for these dependencies; from therapy to self-help; meditation to education, confrontation and tough love, and my favourites – psychosurgery, psychoanalysis and psychedelics.
But here is something interesting, in recent years specialists have looked at the phenomenon in a different light, and are replacing supposition with facts. They say it’s all in the mind. we have a basic design of pleasure circuits that kick in when we come in contact with addictive substances or are involved in pleasurable acts as simple as eating, and as complicated as getting high.
That’s where the problem of treatment comes in, confusing the process of addiction with the resulting impact – impacts like insomnia, delusions, personality disorders, STDs, bankruptcy and a host of others. Not all drugs cause dependences, example – caffeine along with hallucinogens and tranquilizers.
In a case study *rats where introduced to hard drugs and other substances. The researchers saw that there was no primal pleasure derived but they did get dependent on alcohol, but made no effort to seek out a source. So is it psychological? Is it all in our heads?
Why do we get addicted? Here is a list to pick from; deficiency in self control, poverty, ignorance, temperament and character, conditioned response, break down of family values, genes and heredity, lack of discipline or too much of it.
This article in inconclusive, I am no expert, heck the experts are mostly clueless and keep you I therapy for years. This is what I know - our habits are repetitive activities, which require a substantial amount of discipline to keep up. I had enough discipline to latch on to caffeine and pain killers to ease the back problem, finding out that it had long term repercussions I had enough courage to change my habits and give up a lot of harmful things. I still drink coffee and take mild analgesics, but then I have the benefit of hind sight
It didn’t happen in one day, and I didn’t do it alone. But I had to make the choice to change my habits, and my life style by channelling all that energy towards more constructive endeavours.
I still have addictions, several in fact. But I think I have them under control and I see no long term damage, mental or otherwise. However, when they start affecting my relationship with others I will remind myself that denial is not a river in Egypt.
*I am strongly against testing on animals
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