Addiction’s “Trough”: Hypotheses and Shame

It is a common belief in the field of addiction that an addict will not accept change until their condition has worsened due to the addiction, and the idea behind this is that recovery is Full eagerness is required to approach. Many times this is proved to be true, but most of the time it is because we are too late. Becoming an addict and alcoholic actually involves the neglect of mental health and the aspect of shame that makes a person feel bad about themselves and that keeps the addict away from treatment for a long time. Lives. We all seek peace and when we are unable to find it, we will go to any extent to find peace, whether it is to our own detriment or to the detriment of others.

Dr. Eddie Jaffe is a UCLA-trained addiction treatment specialist. However, before entering this field, he himself was a drug dealer and a victim of addiction. After four visits to prison and two visits to a drug and psychiatric rehabilitation center, he returned to a normal life. He has now published several articles and continues to speak on the subject of addiction treatment. He writes for Psychology Today and is also working on his first book.

Editor: Iqra Tariq

When shame drives a beautiful soul into exile came from a beautiful and affluent area of ​​Southern California but could not fit in when she entered the college environment. Since the age of five, she had been putting up with her strict mother’s misbehavior and her father often took out his anger on her, especially when he was under the influence of alcohol. Growing up in such an environment made him lack confidence in his personality. Because of which she began to think of herself as less beautiful, less prepared for life, and began to feel that she was less loved. She wanted to escape from these painful thoughts and feelings and for this she found a solution in alcohol and marijuana. When she would get drunk, she would feel better and be happy with friends. When she was under the influence of drugs, she would feel better about life and forget all the troubles, but then her parents found out that she was addicted to alcohol and drugs. He is addicted to marijuana. He owns she used to fight with her mother all the time and things got worse. When she became worried about the next steps in life and studies, she moved back home to take care of things.

Spending time with parents is always good but MK now restricts himself to marijuana and alcohol to keep away from the problems in his life. She stopped going out of the house because there was no one to encourage her and take her out of the shame of doing that. Although everyone was trying their best to help him. But all the hard work was wasted due to his dissatisfaction and shame which permeated every aspect of his life. All this became a scary reality for her and she began to fear that she will be trapped in all this for the rest of her life. Then he discovered another drug that would take him away from life for a few moments called Nitrous Oxide. It is a drug that after taking a person loses the ability to think and understand and a permanent but artificial smile remains on the face. M. K felt that he had “calm down” after taking this drug. The distance from reality was very comfortable for her and she continued to indulge in this addiction.

Watch Dr. Sadaqat Ali’s special program on addiction.

There is a lot of shame when you get caught in the system. When MK came to us looking for alternatives, she was diagnosed with several ailments including personality, anxiety, marijuana and alcohol ailments. She continued to get treatment for addiction from many treatment centers, but every time she relapsed. She hated going to these treatment centers but because of the advice of many professionals, she came to believe in them. We did not approach this problem in a traditional way. That’s why we M. Worked on K and his family structure and reconstruction which took some time. At the same time, we worked on Mind Tolerance and CBT to get him out of his immediate pain, while biofeedback to control his agitation. The whole process took a few months, but the girl who came to us frustrated and upset was now beginning to change. She started talking about going back to studies. Although the conversation in every session was sad and full of tears, but when we continuously worked on her thinking and personality, things got better and when the work was done, she was a completely different girl than the one we had on the first day.

Watch another program of Dr Sadaqat Ali on the subject of addiction.

By shedding shame, truth and beauty emerge. MK eventually becomes a sensitive and busy girl. She was no longer carrying a mental illness but was fully aware of her weaknesses. She moved out of her parents’ house and then got a job that gave her the start of a bright future. Recently, he has also stopped smoking. Now she doesn’t have to take a lot of medicine. And a very important change is that she no longer hides her personality and problems out of shame, which made it impossible for her to live before. Now he is hopeful and happy and that is the main goal for us.

Lessons For Professionals

For all professionals involved in the field of helping people. Prescribing a quick treatment to the patient, labeling it conventionally seems profitable but unfortunately we often forget to ask ourselves what is the origin of all these and how accurate are they. And when you know what the Pygmalion effect is? That is, when you see your patient frustrated and make him even more frustrated. If you want to instill hope in them, look inside them, start seeing them as if they are better now. That is why they come to us so that we can help them, instill hope in them and guide them. This was MK’s journey to recovery from addiction, but imagine how much better this story would have been if he had gotten the help he needed much earlier instead of waiting for things to get worse.