Living with Addiction

​The causes of addiction have been argued about for many years with our brains, our genes and our personality type being blamed for our addictive behaviours. These all point to a cause outside of ourselves which seems to let us off the hook. Yet there is growing evidence that only the individual can ultimately resolve their own addiction.
 
Origins of Addiction
Dr Gabor Maté is a Canadian physician who has connected his experiences as a family doctor working with childhood development and trauma and his knowledge of substance misuse and addiction.  He believes the systems within our brains that regulate incentive and motivation and attachment and reward can be significantly affected by adverse early experiences.  As a result we may struggle to tolerate our needs and wants not being met and feel an overwhelming desire to satisfy them as quickly and in whatever way we can.
 
This can also lead to poor impulse control and a condition described as ‘brain lock’ in which we continually act without thinking.  This can mean we repeat patterns endlessly, even when the consequences are detrimental.
 
A Path out of Addiction
Neurological development is not fixed as our brains are continuously evolving in response to what we experience.  Reframing our understanding of what is happening can help us change our responses and break our patterns of behaviour.  Over time this can lead to the creation of fresh neural circuits.
 
We can overcome ‘brain lock’ by slowing down the process through taking time to reflect upon the origin of our desires and the outcome of our actions. Regularly and repeatedly working through these five steps can create a new set of beliefs and actions that can significantly change our behaviour.
 
Re-Label the Desire
Name the feeling for what it is by recognising it is not a real need, as it might appear to be, but a temporary desire. It is a desire for a form of comfort or satisfaction, not a need that must be met through a single course of action.
 
Re-Attribute the Source
Apportion blame by asking why my brain is sending me this false message. Compassionate curiosity can help us to avoid blaming ourselves and instead allow us to question where this feeling might have come from.  Asking why we feel this desire at this time can create a useful distance between us and the desire reducing its power to affect us.
 
Re-Focus the Energy
While the urge may seem very powerful it will not last forever. As it only exists in our mind it will pass.  If we are able to distract ourselves long enough, or subvert the feeling by refocusing the energy into doing something else, we can avoid taking a familiar and possibly destructive path.
 
Re-Value the Impact
Initially our focus will be on fulfilling the desire.  Shifting this to concentrate on the inevitable outcome of repeating particular behaviours can help us to put less value on an urge when it leads to disaster.
 
Re-Create the Intention
We are being directed by impulses that developed within us many years ago without us choosing them.  By recognising our true desires in the present we can separate them from feelings that are rooted in our past.  Now we can choose which to follow and add the power of intention to our decisions.
 
Breaking the Cycle
Changing repeated patterns of addictive behaviour is a major challenge and takes time and commitment to achieve.  However continuing to live with detrimental and possibly destructive behaviour can be harder.  By better understanding the origins of our feelings and desires we can begin to choose more useful ways of dealing with them.  In time this can reduce the negative impact on us and the lives of those around us.  It can open us up to a future that is driven by our current desires and intentions, not by feelings rooted in what may have been a difficult or troubled past.
 
© 2019 Michael Golding