Psychological, Physiological, Physical, Environmental and Economical factors which underlie all addictions.

by john carcerano
Now that I am almost 15 years in recovery from my alcoholism and at the age of 45 years old I am finally removed enough from my past that I can now anylise what and why I became addicted to alcohol. Learn from the disection of my story and from the stories of others. Others stories of addiction and recovery can give you a good perspective in which to look at your own present day addiction and use it to find a lasting recovery of your own. People do not plan to become addicted and then they do and the addiction ruins their life. A great many situations are where your life is despondent and confused which in turn leads you to find the temporary relief brought on by a mind soothing and altering drug, drink or substance. Which drug or drink will make you an addict really is not a choice that you make. It's a choice your particular and diverse physiology will determine. An addict is predisposed to addiction. Once the right circumstances come into play, such as your being depressed, upset or anxiety ridden, this is when you pick up a drink or take a drug for relief from your over burdened feelings. The begining of your using drugs or alcohol to alter your mood is the begining of your experinental cycle for relief. You will not be aware of it when you first begin drinking or drugging, but if your body is pre-disposed to addiction you will certainly be on your way to becoming an addict. Being called an addict is not what anyone likes or wants to admit to, but it is the unfortunate consequenses that will occur if you are in fact physiologically destined and prone to the compulsion to use a substance to relieve your unquiet mind. Big stuff here huh? The short answer is if you do not want to become an addict then don't use drugs or alcohol, right? Wrong. If you are pre-disposed physiologically to become an addict then even not using drugs and alcohol does not guarantee you a life free from addiction. When you see an extremely obese person, that person is most likely an addict. You don't have to use drugs or alcohol to become an addict. There are other addictions. You can become addicted to food, sex, gambling or excercise. When an a drug addict or alcoholic quits their addiction they most likely will trade their addiction for some other addiction. You may have heard a lot of debate whether addiction is a disease or not. Undoubtedly the answer is yes, addiction without qusetion is a disease. When you compulsively have no control and need to use an addicting substance your body and it's organs are slowly being toxified, broken down and damaged by your addiction. Your body is progressively being damaged, and progression is the definition of a disease. You may ask that if drug or alcohol addiction damages the body progressively then what about sex addiction or gambling? How could a behavoir damage the body progressively since there is no compulsive intake of a toxic substance? The answer is this, addiction damages the addicts body and mind in several ways. Not only will a toxic drug or drink progressively breakdown and damage the addicts body, so will the compulsive stressful drive associated with all addictions including sex and gambling. Stress is a major killer because it causes major strains and damage on the human mind, organs and whole body. There are studies which are just begining to trickle out now which show that all addicts seem to lose as much as 20 years off of their life even if they abstain from their destructive addiction compulsions early in their life. This is due to the unquiet mind and stresses experienced by the addict whether they use addictive substances or engage in their behavoirs. If you quit your addiction to whatever main addicting substance you compulsively use, then you are not yet cured. You will never be cured. You will be in a state of remission as long as you no longer use, but you will more than likely use another substance or a behavoir will replace your main addiction. The reason you became addicted in the first place was because your mind is unsettled. Watch a smoker who has not had a cigarette for several hours and you will clearly see why they are addiction prone. Addiction prone to not just cigarettes but to many other substances or behavoirs if they are to give up smoking. Something else will replace the cigarette addiction because the ex-cigarette smoker has an unsettled mind that will always be prone to addiction be it cigarettes or something else. Once an addict always an addict. Now there are situations where an addiction may not be too severe and could be arrested without the addict gravitating from one addiction to another. A clear example of this is a friend of mines aunt suddenly became a widow after a long term marriage. Her husband was the main provider and he took care of mostly all of the responsibilities. He was the bread winner and the financial brains in the marriage. His aunt always felt comforable and at ease not worrying about her stability. When her husband died suddenly she was alone and unable to handle her day to day affairs that her husband was so good at doing. Her mind became very anxiety ridden and she also was depressed having lost her husband, her partner and soul mate. She suddenly turned to drinking in order to calm her unquiet mind. There are people who were never put under the strain required to trigger addiction and then suddenly after 50 or 60 years of living a clean life they suddenly aquire an "unquiet mind". I plan on expanding on this subject more very soon.

by John Carcerano www.anewjourney.com
Last week when I went to sleep I seemed to sleep very well. But I had this dream that seemed to go on forever. I'm John Carcerano, the founder of "A New Journey" and an addiction counselor. I get so tied up with the people who I work with that sometimes I get bothered at the most intrusive hours. I can't turn down any addicts who are reaching out to me for help. My tired body may want to at times, but my mind and my heart won't allow it. Dreams do tell you everything you need to know about yourself, they really do. I had this dream last week that seemed to go on all night. It was a long lasting one . I collect antique furniture and I was visiting this elderly lady who was showing me all the antiques she had accumulated in her home. The whole dream took place in her home as she was showing me her antique collection. As I was being led around her house looking at her antiques, there were pets all over her house. They were dogs, cats, bears , just all sorts of animals some of which I could not even recognize or describe. But as This elderly lady was showing all her things, these animals of hers kept bumping into me,sniffing me, licking me,scratching me,tripping me and just making themselves a pain in the butt. They seemed to come out of nowhere, and there they were,everywhere I was walking. It got scary at times cause I did not know when I was gonna get scratched or bitten. They were in my way as if I was having to walk in a maze to avoid them. The lady kept having to grab my arm and pull me along just to keep up with her. These strange mix of animals just kept bothering and touching me. Like I said, this dream was one that lasted a few hours during my night. I woke up a few times but just slightly enough to fall right back to sleep several times and resume the same bothersome dream. When i finally did wake up for the day, which was around 4:30 am, I really was annoyed at why I had had such annoying and bothersome dream. When I began analyzing it I quickly realized that all the strange animals which kept bugging me as I went along were in fact all of my clients I deal with day in and day out. At this point I do a lot of charity work and the kids I mentor along with the addicts I work with, and their family too, are what I was encountering in my dream. The animals bugging me were in fact my clients in real life. Instead of running out of the elderly lady's home, I stayed there and was kind to the bothersome animals. I had done in my dream just as I do in my real life, I stayed and put up with all the animals. In real life I know that regardless of what time or what day someone reaches out to me for help, I am there, always. It sort of reminds me of what Bill Wilson calls the main principal of Alcoholics Anonymous. He says, "When someone reaches out for the hand of AA, yours will be there always". My hand is there always, "and for that I am responsible".