 was this very personal poem about losing someone you love:
Thank you for the thoughtful critique of the way we think of and treat addiction in our often too-judgmental society. We need all the ‘lobbying for compassion’ we can get. Maybe you will help sway some opinions with the points you’ve made and the evidence presented.
Thank you for your lucid summary of such a misunderstood and stigmatized disease.
Choosing to do drugs is a choice, choosing to quit drugs is a choice. Education and therapy helps but if you don’t have the desire to quit all the therapy and education in the world will not help.
And then what about those who have lost the mental capacity to know that they need help? Shall we just sit and wait for them to die or shoot themselves or shoot up schools or jump off buildings? Wake up people! There are hundreds of thousands of mentally ill people out there who appear to be just fine until they hurt themselves or others! If they are one drugs and we can prove it, let’s get them helped whether they want it or not. “All living things want their lives. Only those mentally impaired and/or on drugs do not know this.”
You can only help people that need help, want help, ask for help, and then you can only help them to help themselves. You can not help addicted brains if they don’t want help. Until they hit some type of bottom, they will keep doing what they are doing.
Addiction and the Devil card | James Ricklef's Tarot Blog
He had a CHOICE as to whether he wanted to use or not. That is the same for everyone. When we take our very first drink or drug it is not because of a neurological disfunction it is because we CHOSE to have it. If we want another we will make that choice to have it. And sure after long term abuse the chemical becomes an addictive substance to the brain. Drugs/Alcohol abuse changes chemicals in the brain hence the disfunction. Prior to that later stage of abuse each and every one of us had that choice to use. We also know the dangers of abuse and that addiction is a possibility but we still choose to flirt with that and take that chance. The old saying “It will never happen to me” but for some it does happen and it was their informed choice. And to say also that suicide is also a neurological disfunction that takes away choice is a bit out there. That is also a choice that people make. A choice they make because they are unhappy in their lives. They cannot handle what ever the trauma they have had to deal with. That is how it is for some people. I know. I am a recovering addict. I chose to use. I knew when the drugs was getting to be a problem so I made the choice to stop. I tried to commit suicide. That was a choice I made. I wasn’t mentally balanced at the time, my soul was crushed but I was still capable of making the decision. Obviously it didn’t work. We are all given the free will to make choices. Whether our choices in life are good or bad is a determination of the environment we are brought up in. Regardless of the type of environment we still have personal choice. I understand what was said in the blog but it is a fine line between having a choice to becoming automic without thought at all. We are all born with the ability the choose. That is a part of the brains function and individualises us…. But I do agree that sometimes part of the brain can become compromised and doesn’t work as well as it should which could make people do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do or do things that is not accepted by society. But to class all addicts and suicides in that one bracket is wrong. Choice only gets taken away when the damage done to the brain renders a person incapable. Prior to that we made the choice.
Fantastic piece, very well written and spot on points. I myself went through about a 10 year period of addiction, and many of my friends who were in this with me became true addicts. I’ve lost at least 2 of them from their addictions, and happily seen others able to battle their demons and come out strong. I have to say that while I do feel more on the side of those who do not have a mental or physical addiction problem there are certainly days when I think of my past and how easy it was to just disappear into my own head from time to time, but I can control it. I feel that knowing very bright and loving individuals who have struggled with true addiction I have come to see it in a different light, to understand that there is a true need for these substances due to the change in the chemical constitution of their brain. It’s a hell of a road back and I never really think such a thing is “cured” but rather a profound realization of the damage one has suffered and the need to make a change…which is not something that anyone else can tell a person – it has to be their decision. Much like my bipolar disorder when I am in a deep depression. One cannot just snap out of true depression just as one cannot just stop using because others tell them it’s not ok. In both cases we well know a change should be made but it’s just not possible in most cases.
I feel terrible for PSH he was truly an amazing actor with a broad portfolio. The world lost one very talented individual that day.
Please expand this into a book.
I completely agree!
I believe humanity will one day look back on us and realize that our understanding of human behavior generally and brain science specifically was as primitive as blood-letting and leeches. It is clear that the belief that we have a free and unfettered will is an erroneous assumption. What we now struggle to determine is the degree to which that will can be effectively exercised. It is not a level playing field for every person. “Just do it” sounds good but simply does not work for everyone. That is not an excuse or enabling; it is a statement of fact. As a Christian, I see the necessity of a discussion about faith, brain science, and mental illness. We Christians desperately need to realize that human behavior is a very complex interaction of several dynamic processes.
Yes, our brain’s healthy and wiring do effect whether we will become addicted or exhibit behaviors and have feelings and make decisions that make it difficult to make healthy choices as we cope with life’s stressors. And the value of the latest neuro-scientific understanding does have immense value for current treatments and potential for future treatments as the author asserts. And she makes good points about how we tend to “blame the victim” rather than understand the dynamics of the struggles of those who are mentally ill..
But I would like to make two points. First, to simply relegate all our addictions and problematic cognitive processes and emotional entanglements to solely brain wiring and structural and chemical predispositions negates how the whole physiology of the body interacts with the brain.. And further as other respondents have outlined, the environmental components effect persons in both positive and negative ways as many have gone the addiction route or recovered because of those very factors.
Secondly, while it may be true that at certain points a person’s capacity to make a rational choice is diminished or may even be impossible. i.e. the drunk who is so very confident he can drive flawlessly or the diminished rational capacity of one long addicted to drugs, ultimately regardless of the situation, the person with support from others must choose to find ways to mitigate against their tendencies toward addictive behaviors and learned patterns of addiction. Regardless of the understanding that scientific research might give us, ultimately the power of choice and responsibility of choice at some point must rest with the person. Otherwise we are simply victims of our genetics, brain physiology, and previous life journey without hope. The power of choice is what makes us human and gives us the possibility of making life better for ourselves and those around us..
Relapsing with significant sobriety is part of my story and while I have sympathy, I also recognize that it never, and I mean never, has to be that way. What was my experience and what I see repeatedly in our treatment community is not a failure to go to AA. It’s a failure to work a program, a failure to have what the writers of the Big Book called a spiritual experience. Quoting Jung, the Big Book says “Here and there, once in a while, alcoholics have had what are called vital spiritual experiences.” Sadly, I think that not much has changed since Jung spoke those words. It is still only “here and there, once in a while.” Complete psychic changes are very rare. But they all begin with an opportunity, in my case with the grace of the Holy One. So we get an opportunity that meets us at the point of our surrender, but what happens next depends on so many variables, it’s difficult to explain. Do we have people in our lives who love us enough to tell us the bitter truth? Even enough to withdraw from us? If we go to a treatment center, do we go one that continues to coddle and infantalize us, to pander to our worst instincts — or do we go to one that emphasizes understanding our powerlessness and finding the Power? Then, if we go to a 12-step program, do we go to one that tells us to use our broken brains to address the problem with our broken brains? “Just don’t use no matter what! Play the tape through!” Um, I use no matter what. I use when they’re taking my kid away, when I’ve behaved in such a despicable way that I’ve alienated everyone. And play the tape through? When my spiritual malady has driven me to the point of mental obsession, I don’t even get the tape