Season 3 Podcast 189 Some Random Thoughts on Addiction Pt V

Some Random Thoughts on Addiction Part V “Three Attributes of Addiction”This is the conclusion of the five-part series on Addiction. Let me refer you to Podcasts 157, 170, 171, & 172. I leave it into the hands of experts to create programs or agendas or steps of recovery. To succeed any program must include faith in self, faith in others, and faith in God. The first step is desire. One must want to break his or her addiction.  To do that one must acknowledge that the addiction exists. In this podcast we cover three attributes of addiction that must be addressed.Attribute Number One: False DenialSome, to excuse their own behavior, seek the isolation of obfuscation, even accusing those who want to help of what they themselves are guilty of. Whether their accusations are true or false has no relevancy to their own dire situation. Denial is an enemy to freedom. If we want to change the future, we must acknowledge the past and take ownership for our behavior. Again, listen to the words of Clough.“Play no tricks on thy soul, oh man. Let fact be fact and life the thing it can.”  It takes courage to face truth, but truth is the beginning of freedom. The Master said, “And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”  Attribute Number Two: Red HerringTo say that addiction is a sickness that perpetuates itself is correct, but to claim that the sickness, though it perpetuates the addiction to the point that one cannot escape on his own, is the cause of the addiction begs the question.  Those who use sickness as an excuse for the cause of addiction overlook the cause of the sickness. You wouldn’t say, ‘I have the flu because I am sick.’ It is circular. You would say I have the flu; therefore, I am sick.” The same with addiction. One does not have an addiction because he is sick.  One is sick because he has an addiction. The goal is to cure the sickness, not to use it as an excuse for the sickness. Attribute Number Three: PatternsAll addictions reveal patterns.  The only way to break the addiction is to break the pattern or to escape the pattern. A pattern is an environment of addiction. To leave the addiction, one must leave the environment behind. The environment may be internal or external, physical or mental, emotional, spiritual, temporal, psychological. The environment may be a place; it may be a group of people; it may be an attitude; it may be an escape; it may be an excuse; it may be a combination of negative forces; it may be low self-esteem; it may be peer pressure; it may be a desire to be included. It may be a frame of mind. One must identify the pattern created by the addiction.  The list of patterns is as varied as the individual. But to every addiction there is a pattern. Patterns create predictable behavior, meaning one is chained to his or her behavior and confined to constant repetition. A person confided to me once that his father-in-law organized his entire life around his drinking, even family reunions. If that pattern is not identified and conquered or broken or permanently put away one will never be totally secure in his or her new-found freedom. One may be free of substance abuse for a while but will never be free from the temptation as long as the pattern continues.  A dam breaks at the weakest part.  All addictions have a predictable pattern. Addiction is repetition of past behavior. To break out of captivity, one must break the predictable pattern, often visible to everyone but to the one caught in the net. With addictions comes a confusion of justifications, anticipated objections, self-defense, denial, and rationalization.