This article relates to alcoholism
as well as to drug addiction
In medical terms, a drug is any substance that when taken into a
living organism may modify one or more of its functions. Drugs can
provide temporary relief from unhealthy symptoms and/or permanently
supply the body with necessary substances the body can no longer
make. Some drugs produce unwanted side affects. Some drugs lead to
an unhealthy dependency that has both physiological and behavioural
roots.
The mind is our most important tool. With our mind, we solve the
problems we face in life. Drugs do several things that harm ones
ability to think or to be fully aware of the present surroundings.
These effects continue long after the effects of the drug appear to
have worn off.
Addictive drugs activate the brains reward systems. The promise
of reward is very intense, causing the individual to crave the drug
and to focus his/her activities on getting and taking the drug. The
ability of addictive drugs to strongly activate brain reward
mechanisms and their ability to chemically alter the normal
functioning of these systems can produce an addiction. Drugs also
reduce a persons level of consciousness, impairing the ability to
think or be fully aware pf present surroundings.
The drug taker is not moving in the same series of events as
others. This can be slight, wherein the person is seen to make
occasional mistakes, or it can be as serious as total insanity -
where the events apparent to him are completely different from those
apparent to anyone else. And it can be all grades in between.
It isn't that the drug user doesn't know what's going on. It is
that he perceives something else going on instead of the
actual series of events that are happening around him.
The life cycle of addiction begins with a problem, discomfort or
some form of emotional or physical pain a person is experiencing.
They find this very difficult to deal with.
We start off with an individual who, like most people in our
society, is basically good. This person encounters a problem or
discomfort that they do not know how to resolve or cannot confront.
This could include problems such as difficulty "fitting in" as a
child or teenager, anxiety due to peer pressure or work
expectations, identity problems or divorce as an adult. It can also
include physical discomfort, such as injury or chronic pain.
The person experiencing the discomfort has a real problem. He
feels his present situation is unendurable, yet sees no good
solution to the problem.
Everyone has experienced this in their life to a greater or
lesser degree. The difference between an addict and the non-addict
is that the addict chooses drugs or alcohol as a solution to the
unwanted problem or discomfort.
This person tries drugs or alcohol. The drugs APPEAR to solve the
problem. He feels better. Because he now SEEMS better able to deal
with life, the drugs become valuable to him.
The person looks on drugs or alcohol as a cure for unwanted
feelings. The painkilling effects of drugs or alcohol become a
solution to his discomfort. Inadvertently the drug or alcohol now
becomes valuable because it helped him feel better. This release is
the main reason a person uses drugs or drinks a second or third
time. It is just a matter of time before he becomes fully addicted
and loses the ability to control his drug use.
Drug addiction, then, results from excessive or continued use of
habit-forming drugs in an attempt to resolve the underlying symptoms
of discomfort or unhappiness.
Analogous to an adolescent child in his first love affair, the
use of drugs or alcohol becomes obsessive. The addicted person is
trapped. Whatever problem he was initially trying to solve by using
drugs or alcohol fades from memory.
At this point, all he can think about is getting and using drugs.
He loses the ability to control his usage and ignores the horrible
consequences of his actions.
The addict will now attempt to withhold the fact of his drug use
from friends and family members. He will begin to suffer the effects
of his own dishonesty and guilt. He may become withdrawn and
difficult to reason with. He may behave strangely.
The more he uses drugs and alcohol, the guiltier he will feel,
and the more depressed he will become. He will sacrifice his
personal integrity, his relationships with friends and family, his
job, his savings, and anything else he may have in an attempt to get
more drugs.
The drugs are now the most important things in his life. His
relationships and job performance will go dramatically downhill.
In addition to the mental stress created by his unethical
behaviour, the addicts body has also adapted to the presence of the
drugs. He will experience an overwhelming obsession with getting and
using his drugs, and will do anything to avoid the pain of
withdrawing from them. This is when the newly-created addict begins
to experience drug cravings.
He now seeks drugs both for the reward of the "pleasure" they
give him, and also to avoid the mental and physical horrors of
withdrawal. Ironically, the addicts ability to get "high" from the
alcohol or drug gradually decreases as his body adapts to the
presence of foreign chemicals. He must take more and more, not just
to get an effect but often just to function at all.
At this point, the addict is stuck in a vicious descending
spiral. The drugs he abuses have changed him both physically and
mentally. He has crossed an invisible and intangible line. He is now
a drug addict or alcoholic.
There is such a thing as a "drug personality". It is artificial
and is created by drugs. Drugs can change the behaviour of a person
from his original personality to one secretly harbouring hostilities
and hatreds he does not permit to show on the surface.
This establishes a link between drugs and increasing difficulties
with crime, production and the modern breakdown of social and
industrial culture.
The drug personality includes such characteristics as:
- Mood swings
- Unreliable. Unable to finish projects.
- Unexpressed resentment and secret hatreds.
- Dishonesty. Lies to family, friends, employers.
- Withdraws from those who love him. Isolates self.
- May appear chronically depressed.
- May begin stealing from family and friends.
Drugs are broken down in the liver into residues (chemical
compounds which are closely related to the original substance). Most
of these residues are eliminated rapidly from the bloodstream, but
some can become trapped in the fatty tissues of the body. Although
there are various types of tissues that are high in fat content, the
one thing in common - and the problem that needs to be addressed -
is that these drug residues remain for years. Tissues in our bodies
that are high in fats are turned over very slowly. When they are
turned over, the stored drug residues are released into the
bloodstream and reactivate the same brain centres just as if the
person actually took the drug. The former addict now experiences a
drug re-stimulation (or "flashback") and drug cravings. This is
common in the months after an addict quits and can continue to occur
for years, even decades.
When the addict initially tries to quit, cells in the brain that
have become used to large amounts of these residues are now forced
to deal with much decreased amounts. Even as the withdrawal symptoms
subside, the brain "demands" that the addict give it more of the
drug. This is called drug craving. Craving is an extremely powerful
urge and can cause a person to create all kinds of "reasons" they
should begin using drugs or drinking again. He is now trapped in an
endless cycle of trying to quit, craving, relapse and fear of
withdrawal.
Eventually, the brain cells will again become used to having
lowered drug residues. But, because deposits of drug or alcohol
residues release back into the bloodstream from fatty tissues for
years, cravings and relapse remain a cause of concern. The presence
of residues, even in microscopic amounts, can make the brain react
as if the addict had actually taken the drug again and can set up
cravings and cause relapse even after years of sobriety.
- Mental and physical cravings caused by drug residues which
remain in the body.
- The Biochemical Personality caused by drugs and the lifestyle
the person adopts to get them.
Left unhandled, these manifestations will haunt a person for
years even if they have sobered up. Left untreated, these unresolved
symptoms, whether physical or mental in origin, create an underlying
low-level type of stress which cannot be completely ignored by the
addict. The addict can "just say no" a thousand times, but it takes
him saying "yes" one time to start the cycle of addiction again.
What Causes Drug Addiction and Alcoholism?
How Does Addiction Start?
No one wants to be a drug addict or alcoholic, but this doesn't
stop people from getting addicted. The most commonly asked question
is simply - how? How could my son, daughter, father, sister, or
brother become a liar, a thief, someone who cannot be trusted? How
could this happen? And why won't they stop?
The first thing you must understand about addiction is that
alcohol and addictive drugs are basically painkillers. They
chemically kill physical or emotional pain and alter the mind's
perception of reality. They make people numb.
For drugs to be attractive to a person there must first be some
underlying unhappiness, sense of hopelessness, or physical pain.
What Is Addiction?
Whether a person is genetically or bio-chemically predisposed to
addiction or alcoholism is a controversy that has been debated for
years within the scientific community. One school of thought
advocates the "disease concept", embracing the notion that addiction
is an inherited disease, and that the individual is permanently ill
at a genetic level, even for those experiencing long periods of
sobriety.
Another philosophy argues that addiction is a dual problem
consisting of a physical and mental dependency on chemicals,
compounded by a pre-existing mental disorder that physicians
categorise into diagnoses such as clinical depression, bipolar
disorder, etc. It is true that addictive drugs stimulate the brain's
pleasure centres causing either a reduction of pain or a heightening
of mood.
A third philosophy subscribes to the idea that chemical
dependency stems from chemical imbalances in the neurological
system. The truth in this theory is that repeated use of addictive
drugs results in a physical dependency or tolerance where increased
amounts of the drug must be taken to achieve the same results.
Tolerance occurs when the person no longer responds to the drug in
the way that he/she initially responded. So for example, in the case
of heroin or morphine, tolerance develops rapidly to analgesic
(painkilling) effects of the drug. While the development of
tolerance is not addiction, many drugs that produce tolerance also
have addictive potential.
The fact remains that there is scientific research to support all
of these concepts. The question of whether addiction is genetic,
behavioural or biochemical does not have an absolute answer. The one
distinguishing feature that is present in every theory or philosophy
of the causes of, and cures for, addiction is the ability of the
drug to dominate the individuals behaviour, regardless of whether
physical dependence is also produced by the drug or not.
There are a wide variety of treatment methods being used today,
their administration being based on whatever school of thought the
treatment provider believes in.
With a 16 % to 20 % recovery rate based on statistical analyses
of national averages, the message is clear that we have a lot more
to learn if we are to bring the national recovery rate to a more
desirable level.
There is a fourth school of thought that has proven to be more
accurate. It has to do with the life cycle of addiction. This data
is universally applicable to addiction no matter which hypothesis is
used to explain the phenomenon of drug dependency.
Ending Drug Addiction the Narconon Way
The NARCONON programme, first established in 1966, is unique. It
is a proven get off and stay off drugs program. The key to the
successes of the NARCONON programme is the Drug Rehabilitation
Technology. This methodology has been used successfully by hundreds
of thousands of people around the world to rid themselves of the
need for drugs and regain control of their lives.
The NARCONON programme, unlike more traditional treatment, deals
with both the physical and mental problems brought about by drug
use. We restore the addict, both mentally and physically, to the
person he was before he began using drugs or alcohol. The end result
is a success rate that is 3 to 4 times that of other programs.
The Narconon Programme Resolves Drug Cravings
While drugs and their metabolites quickly become undetectable in
blood and urine, some as rapidly as 3 days after last usage, drug
metabolites remain stored in fatty tissues for years. That
accumulated drug residues continue to cause adverse symptoms led to
the development a programme aimed at reducing levels of toxins in
the body to assist in recovery.
The graph depicts cocaine metabolites being excreted
in the sweat and urine of clients participating in the NARCONON New
Life Detoxification Program. Levels of drug metabolites are not
detectable in clients prior to the start of this program, then
increase dramatically and slowly taper off as the program is
continued. This supports the argument that drug residues remain in
the fatty tissues and that the correct treatment can mobilise and
remove them through the body’s excretory systems.
The New Life Detoxification Programme utilises a combination of
exercise, induced sweating in a sauna, and nutritional supplements
to produce the following results:
- Reduction or elimination of drug and alcohol cravings.
- Reduction or elimination of many symptoms associated with
drug addiction and alcoholism. These can include depression,
irritability, and fatigue.
- Ability to think more clearly.
- Improved memory and attention span.
- Increased energy.
- Increased sense of well being.
- Enthusiasm toward Life.
The Narconon Programme Handles the Biochemical
Personality
William Benitez, founder of the Narconon programme, recognised
that drug addiction was a type of disability. He developed a
comprehensive programme designed to overcome the disability of
addiction by restoring the natural abilities of the addicted person.
A combination of physical detoxification, unique forms of
cognitive and objective therapies, and life skills training, the
programme is delivered in phases where our “students” complete a
series of distinct courses designed to complement and expand on each
other.
The Narconon Programme Achieves a 76% Success Rate.
Narconon, unlike other programs, deals with all aspects of
addiction. We restore the addict, both mentally and physically. A
graduate of the programme has recovered and will continue to stay
well if he uses the tools he has learned and practiced while on the
programme. The premise of the Narconon model is that the former
addict can achieve a new life.
top of drug information page
Narconon Drug Rehab Programme since 1966
|
