The best description of drugs and alcohol addictions i’ve ever heard can be summed up by the words of an elderly alcoholic I know. He said “the moment I knew I was an alcoholic was the moment I quit bragging about it, and began to hide how much I drank”. The alcoholic described that when he was young he and his friends would share a case of beer on a weekend and brag how much of it he had. As he grew older, he would brag to his co-workers how much fun he had that weekend while drinking. Alcohol was overwhelming his existence and he was becoming addicted.
The drinking increased but his bragging slowly subsided. He began to hide the truth of how much he drank to his wife. “I only had a couple” he would tell her, even though he knew it was much more. His weekend stories also stopped and he was now living only to keep drinking. He was addicted and work was not as important to him anymore. He would avoid work more often. His problems at home were easier to deal with when he drank. In his mind alcohol was his friend in times of stress. Friends began to question his actions as his personality and actions had been modified. Depression began to set in.
Do you know of anyone in a similar situation? The truth is that drugs and alcohol addiction takes over your life. And your tolerance levels also sometimes increase which suggests that you need more and more to get the same effects. Eventually you partake only to try and feel normal. Feeling normal is then defined by the addiction. “How did this all happen”, you might finally ask yourself. Ninety-nine percent of all people addicted to drugs or alcohol did not set out to become addicted. Addiction is learned. You train yourself. The younger you start, the more susceptible you will find yourself to becoming an addict.
There are studies which show that similar patterns occur for all types of addiction. Test rats will eventually forsake even food for a “fix”. In the same sense, humans who are addicted will forsake family, friends, and themselves to feed their addiction. Even if the addicted person knows he or she has a drug or alcohol addiction, sometimes the fear of withdrawal symptoms prevents them from seeking recovery. The “new” person now has a parasite thinking for them. They no longer think for themselves, but are depending on their addictive substance to solve their problems. If you can relate to any of these situations, please consider that you have issues with addiction which should be addressed and try to get support.
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