Prescription drug abuse, which I term healing drug addiction, like all addictions including alcoholism, (addiction to ethyl alcohol), though more widely recognized nowadays, is still not widely understood. And of course, combining the abuse of designate drugs, (obtained legally or not), with "street drugs", maybe adding alcohol to the mix, though highly hazardous is ordinary too. My substance abuse Professor, James Crossen Ph/D, coined the generic term "Drugoholism" to cover all Chemical Dependency Issues, because though they have exterior differences, most of the basal downward spiraling progression process, towards greatest destruction and death, is the same. Poly-substance Abuse is the technical term.
According to the Drug enforcement Administration, nearly 7 million Americans are abusing designate drugs, more than the numbers who are abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and ecstasy combined. The Dea says the amount of painkiller addicts has nearly doubled from 2000, when 3.8 million Americans were hooked, designate and illegal drug overdose is the second foremost cause of accidental death in the United States, agreeing to the Centers for Disease Control. "Nearly all poisoning deaths in the United States are attributed to drugs," agreeing to the Cdc, "and most drug poisonings corollary from the abuse of designate and illegal drugs." designate drug overdoses now kill more habitancy than homicide.
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How do we reconcile these facts with the prolonged over-prescription of these drugs, and the lasting high profile celebrity deaths, only the more illustrated tip of this heavy iceberg? assess the two following statements. "He was rocketed to stardom, but unable to deal with the pressures of money and fame, he turned to drugs." Or, "His vocation was going downhill, and unable to deal with the pain of failure, he turned to drugs." As a young man stated on the phone to me as a "hotline" counselor, "I only drink when I have problems." I replied, "It seems to me that life is full of problems, so that means you will all the time be drinking!" Appalled silence on the other end, then a small voice, "I never notion about it like that." Really!!
Similarly, "He is drinking because his wife died." What about the majority whose wives have died, who are not? Mistaking effects for causes, and vice-versa, in the self-feeding reciprocating cycles of Drugoholism, is usual rather than an exception. "Often what happens is someone experiences discomfort, anxiety, or pain. They start being treated with medicine, and need more," said Dr. Steven Juergens, an assistant clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Washington and a incommunicable addiction expert in Bellevue, Washington. "They feel best when using the medication and often feel like "they need it,"" "I'm not an addict, I never took a drug to get high," maintained Michael Jackson. Dr. Paul, other Psychiatrist, reports in his hilarious history of personal Drugoholism, titled "Doctor, Addict, Alcoholic," "I never took a pill I didn't have the indication of illness for." From the book, "Alcoholics Anonymous." whatever who is in the position of refuting that they have a problem commonly has one. By the time any examine comes up, some kind of difficulty has commonly begun. When was the last time your Sunday Church going, one sherry at Christmas Great Aunt Maude, had to disprove ideas she has might have a problem?
What is missing in most media reportage on celebrity addiction is that The someone is the addict, and more specifically, the person's choices have come to be dominated by addictive thinking. All chosen behavior is the corollary of thinking, so addiction is in the addict's head, not in the pill or bottle in their hand. Recently I read on the web other hypnotherapist's statement, "After twenty five years of practice, my consideration is that addiction is 10% physical and 90% psychological." Otherwise those leaving incarceration, rehabs, or hospital detoxification units, who are physically sober, would never relapse! Right! One client I was counseling, an early stage milder case, could not "get it" until I said, "You are dependent on changing your mood with a chemical to get straight through the day." His eyes focused and lit up. "That's me," he exclaimed, and his resistance to recognizing his alcohol abuse evaporated. This was despite being comfortable with the notion of addiction, as applied to his intermittent cocaine binges. A facet of the times perhaps, or it's relative undeniability in his case, as he hated the effects of his cocaine use, while still clinging to the far slower destructive direction of his alcohol consumption.
So the persons chosen response to inner and outer "stress" is the missing link, this is what creates a drugoholic. An addiction to the "quick fix", to the easy way out, ensues. This, apart from any other factors, becomes an ingrained addition habitual response, including response the real or imaginary stress created by the addiction itself. One of the many self-feeding cycles of addiction, independent of the "host" personality. Part of the cognitive, (thought), behavioral habit apparatus, known as psychological habituation in Drugoholism. And the alterations of cognitive processes and perceptions produced by ongoing use, whether physical, due to chemical toxicity in the brain, or psychological, from the addictive process itself, continues to in effect create and additionally amplify perceived stress, as the condition, (the dis-ease) progresses. So there is an addition belief on chemicals for stress relief, and addition amounts of stress, real or created mentally, to relieve. This process underlies the obscuring created by focusing on any combination of chemicals, or circumstances, at any given time.
All of this mentality applies to the relinquishment physiology of the body, when a drugoholic initially attempts to "clean up". So this becomes a major source of the drugoholic's terror at the idea of, or results of withdrawals, rather than the withdrawals themselves. This is irrespective of the fact that with severe physical, (metabolic) dependencies, that may be both physically and psychologically horrendous. The problem is not the preliminary withdrawals, for a true drugoholic, insurmountable as they might seem. The problem is studying to live a life on an ongoing daily basis without resorting to chemicals to escape/recoil/retreat from inner and outer reality in any way.
How much of Michael Jackson's "weirdness" and reports of him being a "complicated" person, were not due to his personality, but were in fact his response to healing drug addiction I wonder? And the degeneration into, histrionic emotionalism and other forms of narcissistic immaturity, that so often accompanies the uncut deterioration of Drugoholism, as exhibited by Anna Nicole Smith too. Even worse, many categories of psychiatric drugs can cause potentially horrendous reactions. Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta, Xanax, Lithium, Zyprexa and other psychiatric medications may spellbind patients into believing they are improved, when too often they are becoming worse, without the individuals realizing that their medications are semi-permanently deforming their way of mental and feeling.
There are many reasons for this obscuring nearby Drugoholism. Myth, misinformation, misunderstanding and ignorance, using a true meaning of the word which is, "lacking information", abound. In "The First Session with Substance Abusers." Nicholas A. Cummings, Ph/D, quotes studies that show Md's identify .05% of alcohol/drug problems in those who cross their door, while those well trained in Chemical Dependency identify 100%! Two hundred times more! Psychologists and other allied professions fare not much best in my taste and opinion. The science of mind of addiction is a specialized field. Though Md's and clinical psychologists are highly respected and often quoted authorities, unless they have this specialized education, it is more likely to be a case of the blind foremost the blind.
The current usual attitude to designate drugs blinds Md's to what is happening. How many times is a new wonder drug trumpeted abroad? Sleep aids, Barbiturates etc., (Mebaral and Nembutal). Stimulants, ("uppers" such as Dexedrine, Adderall, Ritalin and Concerta). Tranquilizers, (Benzodiazepines such as Valium and Xanax). Painkillers from Oxycontin type opioids on down? These are now the source of endless drug problems. I never tire of reminding people, "The first healing use for Heroin was as a cure for Morphine addiction." So when healing habitancy proclaim the latest painkiller or anti-anxiety medication as non-addictive or non-habit forming, I retort, "Except for those persons with lasting long-term anxiety, or lasting long-term pain." This is in respect of any combination of these factors, plus those induced by the medications themselves, addictive, real or imagined of course.
As Drugoholism is stigmatized, habitancy are loath to attribute a bad "character flaw" to another, especially those idolized and famous for other genuine talents. And the ongoing mental, emotional and physical deterioration/degeneration process of Drugoholism is attributed to other sources to excuse the addicts again, in order to avoid personally "denigrating" them. This goes hand-in-hand with the addicts blaming defences. In actuality, the vulnerability to addiction in recent, (2009) studies increasingly reveals a 50% genetic/biochemical basis. There is also other further constellation of factors that are exterior the person's current will power or control, from pre-verbal cellular level infantile trauma, to role modeling from early childhood onwards. And there are many others too. Current psychic pain, "His wife died..." is the last and perhaps least factor, as is blaming it on childhood pain. Again, there are many with severe childhood pain that display no addictive tendencies whatsoever.
Another source of obscuring is the actual disinformation put out by the psychiatric-medical-pharmaceutical complex. This has been rigorously documented by the psychiatrist Peter Breggin, Md., dealing with the healing bureaucracy at its top levels. He reports how the drug manufacturer Eli Lilly was taken to court for offences tantamount to criminal fraud in this regard. In the mid 1990's, his "Toxic Psychiatry." outlined the growing problem of healing addiction. "The commonest drug addict in America is a female in her mid forties, addicted to barbiturates and a benzodiazapine," he stated at the time. The record of negative aspects of ordinarily prescribed psychiatric medications above, is taken from his website, http://www.breggin.com. He exposes the growing propaganda infused into the healing community, including the Fda, which diminishes, sidesteps or flat out denies the negative effects of ordinarily prescribed psychoactive drugs.
This is partly responsible for the idea that healing drugs are not as harmful as other drugs, and are legitimate, so those hooked on them are not real addicts. Also a suitable denial for the drugoholic themselves. In fact, being 100% pure, it needs to be stressed they can be worse. Oxycontin from the physician is as bad, If Not Worse, than heroin from the dealer. It is similar to the obscuring nearby alcohol, other socially accepted drug. Many can drink with enjoyment and impunity. But once the ominous earmarks of the addictive process begin to appear, a trained advisor can identify the condition years before the final accelerating deteriorative spiral.
Due to the subconscious nature of much denial, and the stigma and ignorance surrounding this process, those close to the addict are often the most totally blind to the malady. The fact that Elvis Presley obtained Five Thousand pills from Doctors in his last months was invisible to his personal staff. The unavoidable obscuring corrupting interlinked interpersonal influences of fame, power, status and money, as the deteriorating celebrity surrounds themselves with yes men, are a extra factor for the wealthy and those in the collective eye. But how many alcoholics leave a complaining spouse to later marry someone with fewer objections, often an alcoholic themselves.
So now I hope it becomes more obvious that addictive processes include designate drugs in exactly the same way as with illicit ones, and that celebrities are not exempt from the selfsame states of mind and body that occur in these circumstances. Definite drugs may have distinct results, but the inexorable addictive process will take its toll in similar ways for the rich and famous, just as the scythe of Drugoholism cuts down the ill-educated poverty stricken ghetto street addict. If this record helps one person, I deem it a success, though I do of course hope for more.
Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, and Anna Nicole Smith - Death is the Prescription, How Many More?
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