Persons with addictive disease continue to use their substances in the face of a long history of adverse consequences in significant areas of their lives, including medical problems, legal problems, relational problems, and employment problems. The drive to use is stronger than one’s love for a significant other or a child; stronger than loyalty to an employer or a friend; and stronger than one’s values or even spiritual tenets. Persons with addictive disease continue to use long after any rational individual would choose to do so. This article provides a brief explanation of the role of denial in the power of addiction.

Some definitions

The term drug or alcohol addiction is used to mean a primary, chronic, disease, with genetic, psychosocial, and environmental factors influencing its development and manifestations. It is characterized by behaviors that include one or more of the following: impaired control over drug use, compulsive use, craving, and continued use in the face of adverse consequences. Addiction can develop with frequency of use of as little as two-to-three times a week. An example of addictive disease is alcoholism, or heroin addiction.

A person with addiction may, or may not, develop physical dependence and experience physical withdrawal symptoms upon stopping use; physical dependence usually requires use of alcohol or other drugs many times a day, every day, for a substantial period of time. A diagnosis of addiction does not require the presence of physical dependence.

Denial

Denial is a complex concept that includes many factors. We will focus here on factors commonly understood in the addictions treatment field to operate to cause the addicted person to be out of touch with the reality of the adverse effects of drug or alcohol use. We will use simple understandable, non-technical terms.

Denial in the alcohol or other drug (AOD) addicted person includes the following factors which operate, except for Item 1), in part unconsciously, or, at times, semi-consciously:

1) Deliberate lies.

Addicted persons, be they alcoholic or addicted to illegal drugs, lie and manipulate to protect their ability to satisfy the need to use their DOC (drug of choice). They also lie to themselves and come to believe their own distortions. Addicts who must buy their drugs from illegal sources and use illegal means to finance purchases, will be particularly adept at deliberate falsification and skillful manipulation.

2) Alcohol/drug-induced amnesia (blackouts).

Present inability to recall events occurring while under the influence adds to the “denial” problem. The AOD addicted person in truth cannot remember many of the negative events he/she may be accused of, which adds to the confusion, frustration and delusion of the user (and to the frustration of those close to him/her).

3) Euphoric recall.

Recall of events while AOD impaired tend to be distorted. The AOD addicted person also tends to recall only the good times, not the bad, a selective memory.

4) Denial in Significant others.

Those close to the AOD addicted person experience denial in forms similar to that of the addict or alcoholic, and tend to enable, that is, protect the user from experiencing the natural consequences of his/her inappropriate behaviors.

5) Lack of feedback or ability to reality test what’s going on.

Because of the dysfunction which develops in intimate relationships, the AOD addicted person has no way of reality testing, that is, he/she is given no useful feedback about the reality of AOD use and its real impact on significant others. The usual rule in such families is to avoid intimacy and not talk about the problem.

6) Ignorance of the definition of alcoholism or addiction.

Stereotypes of the “typical” alcoholic or addict, myths, even one’s own experience with an alcoholic can lead to excluding one’s own behavior from the definition. For example, an individual can say:

I don’t drink or use every day

I do my school work

I never drink in the morning

I don’t crave, or need to drink or use

I don’t drink or use much when away from school during Xmas, summer, etc.

7) Toxic effects of AOD on the brain

Addictive AOD use seriously disrupts the normal functioning of the brain, not only causing dysfunction in the action of “feel good” chemicals (neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin) thereby causing craving and loss of control, but also cause dysfunction in the brain’s ability to process, store, and use information.

Inconsistency of patterns of AOD use, loss of control and consequences.

The individual may not get drunk every time, may not suffer negatives every time, may be able to quit for a time, etc., and will, of course, focus on the times when nothing bad happened.

9) Influence of media and culture.

Society, commercials, ads all depict alcohol as an integral part of life’s activities—sports, good times, bad times, sex, etc. Not drinking is in many parts of society abnormal.

10) Sneaky disease.

The loss of control over, and addiction to, drugs and alcohol are insidious in their onset and development.

11) Stigma.

Alcoholics and addicts are considered by much of society to be weak willed, immoral, irresponsible, and even criminal. Persons who have this disease also tend to internalize this stigmatized notion of the alcoholic or addict, and tend to not only resist applying such a term to themselves, but also resist seeking help because, perhaps, they feel unworthy.

12) Professional enablers.

Even today, when persons with AOD addiction seek help, they often encounter care givers with little expertise in diagnosing and treating AOD disorders, who provide services not directly addressing the addiction. This approach enables the addicted persons to rationalize that they are getting help that may result in a return of the ability to use.



Thanks to Jan Edward Williams for contributing this article to our Addiction blog:

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Addiction can be defined as a family disease. It is a fact that the entire family suffers with the addict. This is the reason that professionals consider treatment of the family to be the part of the whole treatment of addiction.

First, it is important to understand that the tendency to become addicted is genetically transmitted. This is proved by a research that has been undertaken to know the exact reason of raise in the cases of addiction.

When it comes to the family suffering, there are a number of ways a family suffers with the addict. According to a study, about one third of the families in the United States have at least one member in the family with a substance abuse problem.

About one-fourth of this problem exists in nuclear family. In such families, there are more chances of divorce, domestic violence, anxiety, child abuse, depression and general medical problems.

When an addict & the whole family gets into the recovery mode, many effects of depression are supposes to go away in a couple of years. However, there needs to be an active participation from the addict, the family & the recovery professional.

It may be quite difficult to deal with addiction in the family as it’s hard to see a family member in trouble but one needs to be strong enough to cope up with such troubles. The most important thing to remember is that there are many important issues to explore as soon as someone in your family requires help. First, you need to make out whether you are contributing to the core problem or working towards eliminating it.

Here are certain contributions you may be making to increase the problem:

• Making yourself believe that you are responsible for the whole scenario rather than caring for yourself.

• Getting judgmental towards the addicted person.

• Concealing the addict’s behavior & covering up for them.

• Doing certain things for the addict that they require to carry out all by themselves.

• Accepting your lack of control & giving up after some trials.

• Paying attention to your feelings & needs rather than taking care of the addict.

Here are certain important facts that you must know regarding how to deal with addiction:

• The family must suggest some actions to the addict that are required to help him get out of the addiction.

• Individual counseling also works really well with the addict. Here, a professional puts an effort to provide some cool tips to get out of the situation and fight addiction bravely.

• People who are fighting against a drug or alcohol addiction, a variety of detox treatments are suggested and these treatments may be conducted in a hospital, specific clinic or even a treatment facility.

• Certain types of addiction also require adept or special type of medication. For instance, a drug called nicorette helps a lot to those addicted to smoking.

• One can also contact self recovery groups where special help is provided to addicts. Addicts are taught how to recover & maintain their self esteem here.

• Different types of out-patient facilities are also available where the addict is provided adept treatment. He needs to visit where facilities regularly in order to meet their program expectations.

The task of helping an addict overcome his problem may be difficult but with hard work & determination, it is possible.



Thanks to Bertil Hjert for contributing this article to our Addiction blog:

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