Many people, especially men and women entering treatment, do not have an in-depth understanding of the disease of addiction. Instead, their knowledge about addiction comes from common misunderstandings and myths about the disease. Here are four common myths that may change your mind about addiction:
You Can’t be Addicted if You Take Medication as Prescribed
Many prescription medications, like opioid and benzodiazepines, are highly addictive and cause physical dependence even when taken as instructed by a doctor. It is the physical and psychological reliance on the drug that causes addiction. The fact that these drugs are legal causes people to differentiate them from illicit substances, but there is very little difference between the effects of a prescribed drug and a street drug.
You Can Stop Using if You Have Enough Willpower
Many problems in our lives can be solved by “pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps.” Addiction, however, is a disease. Willpower has just as much effect at curing addiction as it does curing any other progressive and fatal disease. The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous explains that once a person puts alcohol into his or her system “something happens, both in the bodily and mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for him to stop.” Addiction is complex and requires much more than willpower to overcome.
You Can’t be Addicted if You’re Still “Getting Things Done”
Many people have a stereotypical idea of addicts and alcoholics as unemployed and unable to do the most basic of things. Many of us, however, were able to work, had families, and maintained a positive outward appearance. We maintained an illusion of manageability in our lives, but internally we were miserable and hopeless. We may have been going about our lives as though nothing was wrong, but we suffered mentally, emotionally, and spiritually due to our addiction.
Breaking Physical Dependence Means Breaking the Addiction
When we enter into treatment, we go through the uncomfortable experience of detoxifying our bodies from drugs and alcohol. This isn’t the end of our treatment, but only the beginning. Maintaining sobriety requires much more than just detox. We must thoroughly engage in a process of self-examination, develop coping mechanism, and adhere to an aftercare program if we don’t want to fall back into active addiction. We have an entire psychic change and upheaval or our old patterns of thinking, and stick with our program of recovery after treatment ends.
You don’t have to be a victim of addiction. There is a solution you can find now by seeking help. Oceanfront Recovery is a men’s treatment facility in beautiful Laguna Beach dedicated to providing you the tools necessary to live a happy and joyous life in sobriety. For more information about Residential Treatment and other treatment options, please call today: (877) 279-1777
