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Have you
ever wondered how a person could become addicted to
drugs/alcohol? Drugs and alcohol also cause an amazing high
and some even describe the feeling of better than love or
sex. When you’re in love relationship begins to
fizzle, you desperately try to get that groove back once
more. It becomes the most important thing on your plate
even taking precedence above family, friends or employment.
Individuals
who can no longer get their drug of choice begin to withdraw
with some rather uncomfortable side effects. Just think
about the side effects of that lost love. You probably
couldn’t eat, sleep or find hope or happiness in anything
you had before.
If you are
a person who has never understood drug addiction, compare it
to falling in love, the fear of losing that love and the
desperate moves you made with hopes of reuniting. Looking
back, any one of us can recall a time in our lives when we
acted out of character for the sake of love and then swore
to never do it again.
Those
afflicted with drug addictions will often say the same, that
they will never go back to using because of the costs
involved. Eventually, unexpectedly, we come across a person
who again brings about those intoxicating feelings and
although we said never again, we rationalize and say this
time it will be different.
This
relapse is common with drug addiction and an individual in
recovery will share that they have relapsed numerous
times.
It is
difficult when a friend or family member becomes addicted
and we just want them to stop. Stop hurting themselves and
us. We become enraged and cut them off from connection,
making them choose us or the drug.
Think about
those times you fell in love and friends or family told you
to slow it down or just say no. Fortunately, falling in
love can end in living happily ever after.
A drug
addiction will not end in living happily ever after but will
often result in death. There is no end in sight for this
war on drug addiction, but it doesn’t mean we have to give
up just yet. Having a greater understanding of the
difficult journey of our loved one’s path is a start.
Take a
mental health moment and begin to understand your loved
one’s journey. Love and drug addiction involves enormous
amounts of emotions that we are unable to control. When we
find ourselves in those doomed relationships with love or
drugs, we know when to say enough is enough, but we are the
only one who can make that choice for us.
Graham, is
a Licensed Professional Counselor, National Certified
Counselor and Certified Grief Recovery Specialist. |
