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Addiction theory

poet Anonymous

http://soulspottv.com/blog/everything-you-think-you-know-about-addiction-is-wrong

So this morning, I was scrolling through facebook, when I came across this article in my newsfeed. The psychology of addiction is something that interests me, having experienced issues myself. In this article, they claim that addiction needs companionship in order to be dealt with, and that a lack of bonds with people is what triggers addiction as a coping mechanism for loneliness, or awkwardness.

I wasn't sure what to make of this article. I can't say that I've ever really wanted people around when I have been drunk, if anything they've been more of a hinderence to recovery.

Any thoughts on this? I'd be interested to know what other people think.

poet Anonymous

most older addiction research is wrong. drugs don't cause addiction...not even the chemicals in them cause addiction.
the real cause is isolation....so companionship and becoming better adapted to life are key parts to curing it...or at least they should be.

poet Anonymous

Surely, requiring companionship is down to individual preference though? I can't say it's ever something that's made me stop and go "Well, sh*t I need people in my life now in order to overcome this". While drugs themselves can't necessarily be the bare-bones root cause of addiction, the feelings you get from them, do. You can get addicted to feeling good I think.

berea440oh
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All I could honestly say is that it depends on one's point of view.

Or is that a lie?

poet Anonymous

What is your point of view? That's the point of the thread, heh.

lepperochan
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z.  Chemicals in drugs cause a physical addiction.

5.  anyone who starts a blog about addiction with a title that basically says everyone is wrong 'cept him is obviously on crack

5.  What utter poppycock !

5. pfffft, all Kurt Cobain needed was a fwend :(

poet Anonymous

lepperochan said:5.  What utter poppycock !

Couldn't have put it better myself.

poet Anonymous

people who are well adapted to life usually have some sort of companionship and are less likely to even want to use drugs.

also...if drugs make people feel good while they have other things in life making them feel good... companionship for example,..they are less likely to become addicts.

you can do drugs...and not be addicted to them.


lepperochan
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Yeah, depending on the chemical makeup of the drug. Natural drugs for example : weed, mushrooms etc are less likely to cause a physical addiction whereas synthetic drugs : crack, pills, alcohol, cigarettes etc are more likely tto, and in some cases are manufactured specifically to make addicts out of its users

there are so many ( in theory)  mitigating factors in why people become addicts, some include :

Genetics

trauma

Plain stupid

shy

demographics

Personality

peer pressure

etc, I think it would be deeply remiss to throw blanket statements around about companionship. Sid and Nancy, two very famous addicts had each other and others as companions but still died of overdoses, Hendricks, Elvis, Philo Lynnot all had an abundance of companions and spouses etc

Its all just far too black and white for what is a very complex subject

RevolutionAL
Alistair Plint
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lepperochan said:Yeah, depending on the chemical makeup of the drug. Natural drugs for example : weed, mushrooms etc are less likely to cause a physical addiction whereas synthetic drugs : crack, pills, alcohol, cigarettes etc are more likely tto, and in some cases are manufactured specifically to make addicts out of its users

there are so many ( in theory)  mitigating factors in why people become addicts, some include :

Genetics

trauma

Plain stupid

shy

demographics

Personality

peer pressure

etc, I think it would be deeply remiss to throw blanket statements around about companionship. Sid and Nancy, two very famous addicts had each other and others as companions but still died of overdoses, Hendricks, Elvis, Philo Lynnot all had an abundance of companions and spouses etc

Its all just far too black and white for what is a very complex subject




^--^ what he said!

!

poet Anonymous

I often wonder if it's more to do with personality than falling into it. I came from a very loving family, as an example. My parents are still married, and I still have a good relationship with them. However, my Mum has OCD. I have OCD, and I get hooked on things, and people, very easily. Maybe I just have an addictive personality and it's in my genes somewhere, rather than craving companionship I don't really need, if I'm honest. *shrugs*

poet Anonymous

lepperochan said:Yeah, depending on the chemical makeup of the drug. Natural drugs for example : weed, mushrooms etc are less likely to cause a physical addiction whereas synthetic drugs : crack, pills, alcohol, cigarettes etc are more likely tto, and in some cases are manufactured specifically to make addicts out of its users

there are so many ( in theory)  mitigating factors in why people become addicts, some include :

Genetics

trauma

Plain stupid

shy

demographics

Personality

peer pressure

etc, I think it would be deeply remiss to throw blanket statements around about companionship. Sid and Nancy, two very famous addicts had each other and others as companions but still died of overdoses, Hendricks, Elvis, Philo Lynnot all had an abundance of companions and spouses etc

Its all just far too black and white for what is a very complex subject


yes...drugs with high addiction potential should be avoided by people with akrasia problems...genetic factors...or factors in general that would make addiction a higher possibility, but literally everything has potential to be addicting... as everything is a mind altering substance, some things are just more mind altering than others, so the things people get addicted to are not the cause of addiction.

and famous people aren't really the greatest examples of well adapted individuals.

anyway, I agree with your point about blanket statements.

also,..,about the companionship thing, there was a rat study...where some guy put a rat in a cage with regular water and water laced with some drug and it usually chose to drink the LSD water...but then some other guy put a bunch of rats in a cage with toys and things and they were not at all interested in the heroin water.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park

RevolutionAL
Alistair Plint
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"I'm not addicted; just love the smell"

;)


poet Anonymous

I feel some of it is physical ( my main drug is coffee) if I do not get it in the morning or I forget (hahahahah) I get a headache that reminds me.  I am sure many of the other drugs do physically as well?
The real factor is self discipline. Some of us get it from ourselves alone, others get assistance  through  support from family or friends (from whom the opposite may be true as well, co-dependence), many get it from our faith, whatever it may be, it gives us our strength to not do them.
The real key is wanting to stop, not just saying' I will try'. Like my dad use to say, "Try in one hand and shit in the other and see which one fills up first"

lepperochan
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OK, I can see your logic about companions, on paper it might seem like an obvious answer, but then you have to factor in the individual. take, me  who wasn't famous and who lived with a decent and very diverse social circle. Adapted enough, in that I can't remember a time where I was afraid of life or apprehensive about living it, found it easy enough to make friends etc

I started doing drugs at maybe 13, over counter drugs like glue, lighter gas, petroleum, bottled gas  ...literally anything to get stoned or drunk  ..why ?  I hear you ask ...and you'd be right to

there are definitely choices involved, no one forced me to take my first  smoke of heroin or gram cocaine, I made that choice knowing where others ended up ( convinced myself I was stronger than everyone )

I think of all the theories,  addictive personality may fit me best. I tend to swap one thing for another. when I first had a game of medal of honour on the ps1 I played it for 8 days and nights  solid ...only thing got in the way was having to sleep

I do think though that the companion theory might hold some water if it were applied to help an addict recover rather than the reason an addict is an addict

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