Do you believe that once addicted, always addicted?

Jump to Last Post 1-7 of 7 discussions (12 posts)
  1. IDONO profile image60
    IDONOposted 11 years ago

    Do you believe that once addicted, always addicted?

    Whether alcohol, drugs, gambling or any addiction, when you stop the act of your addiction, does that mean you are cured or is it arrested as long as replaced by something else? Please don't confuse obsession with addiction.

  2. the clean life profile image70
    the clean lifeposted 11 years ago

    Yes once addicted always addicted. I stopped drinking in 2009 and believe me it is a battle each day to stay sober. I know if I have one sip of alcohol I will be right back to drinking everyday, so I will be an alcoholic for the rest of my life, but just won't drink it. It never just goes away. Alcohol is in my mind, but I have to keep that promise and that positive attitude to never drink again and that is exactly what I do to stay sober as well as write every night about alcoholism.

    1. IDONO profile image60
      IDONOposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I am also a recovering alcoholic. I believe I was born with alcoholism but didn't become an alcoholic until I started drinking. So, even though I stopped drinking, I'm still an alcoholic. Diabetics are still diabetics even when dieting.

  3. SidKemp profile image86
    SidKempposted 11 years ago

    Having studied and worked on this closely for over 30 years, I see several stages in the process of entering into, and recovering from, addiction.

    Everyone is, to some degree, at risk of addiction. But some are much more at risk than others. And some are more at risk of one particular addiction (say alcohol) than others. (By the way, I believe that three separate things exist, obsession, behavior addiction, and substance addiction. But to meet your terms of the conversation, I'll talk only about substance addiction.)

    Say someone realizes, "I am an alcoholic" and stops drinking. This person is still addicted, even if he never takes another drop. The intense desire is there.

    Many people substitute one addiction for another. This can be healthy. Crack cocaine to alcohol is a step up. Alcohol to coffee is another step up. Then maybe the person becomes a wacky health food addict, but is still an addict.

    If, in addition to dropping a particular addiction, the person goes seriously and deeply into rehab and a 12-step (or similar) program, a person can definitely, over time, loosen up those cravings, increase self-discipline, and *reduce* the addictive tendency. For almost everyone, this is as far as it goes.

    So, for most people who have been addicted abusers of substances, it is best to stay with the 12-step language, "I'm me, and I'm an alcoholic. It has been 23 years, 2 months, and 5 days since I last took a drink." (You get the idea.)

    But I have met a few people who find that, after a dozen or more years of 12-step, this is a limiting identity. With many years of deep spiritual and psychological work, it may be best to let go of the "addict" identity. I encourage such people (and many others) to follow The Artists Way by Julia Cameron, a program modelled on 12-step programs, but for recovering artistic creativity beyond addiction. And, at this point, it may be possible to say, "I'm Sid, a human being. Like all other people, I can be an addict. But it's been a long, long time."

    On a personal note, I am fortunate enough not to have landed in any of the classic substance addictions. But I was addicted to foods that I was allergic to that made me quite sick. And now, following the steps described above, I can truly say that, looking deeply at my thoughts and feelings, the cravings are gone.

    1. IDONO profile image60
      IDONOposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I think your term "cravings" fits perfectly with my word "obsession". I was consumed by the thoughts of how to get my next drink or financing my habit. That was the 24 hr. obsession. Those subside in time. Good response. Thank You.

    2. SidKemp profile image86
      SidKempposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Technically, cravings are the mental and emotional thoughts of desire that lead to addictive behaviors and substance addictions. Obsessive thoughts are similar, only they lead only to more thinking (obsession) not to self-harmful action (addiction).

  4. Nancy B. profile image68
    Nancy B.posted 11 years ago

    Depends upon the personality. When I stopped smoking, I would stop and then start again. It took several years for me to finally internalize that I was not a smoker and after that it never bothered me again. I do know some people that have quit smoking and even after years of going without a cigarette still look longingly at a pack when they see it.

    So no, I do not believe, once addicted, always addicted is for everyone.

  5. brakel2 profile image73
    brakel2posted 11 years ago

    Addiction is very complicated. Sometimes
    the addictive substance changes the brain chemistry  so that you always have the addiction and must not use the addictive substance ever again. You also may have a brain defect causing the addiction. My father had an addictive personality and was an alcoholic. He fell and had brain surgery which took away the addiction.

    1. SidKemp profile image86
      SidKempposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I'm very glad for your father. I've seen too many sad cases where brain injury had the opposite effect, leaving addiction incurable.

    2. IDONO profile image60
      IDONOposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      God works in mysterious ways, don't he? Bless you and your dad.

  6. Beata Stasak profile image79
    Beata Stasakposted 11 years ago

    In my counselling experience with alcohol and drug addicts I can honestly say that majority of my clients just replace one type of addiction with other, but if it is less harmless it is still bonus, don't forget even coffee is addictive and how many of us belong to that category?

  7. MDavisatTIERS profile image68
    MDavisatTIERSposted 10 years ago

    As a person in long-term recovery with almost 25 years of abstinence based recovery, I had to make a decision based on my use, abuse and addiction to multiple substances and honestly determine the negative outcomes from continued use or reverting back to use.  Therefore, I would have to say for me in answering your question as it's phrased, that I remain addicted though not using.

    Given that I have several cousins and two daughters in recovery as well, the studies and literature on genetics has proven to be accurate for my family.  Therefore, I do not risk taking things labeled, “harmful if taken in excess” or something with a Surgeon General’s warning.  For me, that is precautionary, not unlike a diabetic checking out the sugar content, or an individual on a diet referring to the carb count. 

    However, I do not believe in leading descriptions of myself as addict.  It is not a form of denial of one aspect of me; it is simply that I am so much more and less than an addict.

    I opened and ran an award winning women’s residential facility from 1990-2011 and used strength based approaches so that the women could move beyond “just an addict, always an addict.”  The stigma was in some ways more painful in the south, where motherhood is second only to sainthood, so many of these women faced a double bind as addicted mothers, versus recovering mothers.

    Again, it does not negate the fact that addiction to substances is a part of their make-up, but that they are doing and becoming more than the stereotype.

 
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)