The Road to Recovery from Addiction and Substance Use
ASHLEY HEWER, MA, RCC - VITALITY COLLECTIVE CLINICAL COUNSELLOR (SURREY, BC)
There was a time in my life when I felt really lost and really alone even in a room full of people. I had experienced a lot of traumas in life which I didn’t know was trauma until I went to therapy myself. I also had social anxiety and learned as a teenager that drinking alcohol made being around other people easier. Then over a period of time, it wasn’t easier anymore, there were forgotten nights and things I wished I could forget I had done or said. The guilt and shame set in and to not feel that I had drank more. I wasn’t achieving the life goals I had had since I was 12 years old, my friends had all moved out of the “party” phase of life, and the majority of the time I just felt sick. I knew my drinking was the problem, but it seemed overwhelming to stop. How would I handle socializing, birthdays, holidays or weddings? Then one day I decided I didn’t want to live my life that way anymore, that I missed my family and my friends, and I wanted to achieve my goals. That was the day I picked up my Alcoholics Anonymous book that had been gifted to me 10 years earlier and this time I started from the beginning. I’m not sharing this part of my life with you because I think my story is special or different than anyone else’s, it's actually the opposite, through my personal and professional experience with addiction and substance misuse everyone’s stories take a similar path.
What is Addiction?
Addiction is “a state of psychological or physical dependence (or both) on the use of alcohol or other drugs” (American Psychological Association).
Alcohol Addiction and other addictions often start as a way to cope with negative life events, trauma, and or emotions. At the time of first using a person learns that it makes them feel good, it allows them to feel a sense of freedom they haven’t experienced. As humans, we like to do things that make us feel good, and in the case of substance use, it becomes a learned behaviour, because it works people don’t seek out other supports or learn other ways of coping with trauma or emotions. The pattern continues over time, and people may learn that this substance helps when I am sad, perhaps it will help when I am stressed or angry. As time goes on a person requires more of the substance to achieve the desired effect.
Signs you may have an addiction or a problematic relationship with substances
Increased Tolerance to a substance
Attempting to stop using substances but an inability to sustain abstinence
Missing school or work due to substance use
Anxiety when unable to obtain a substance
Feeling extreme happiness or excitement while planning to get your substance of choice. (ie. Going to the liquor store after work)
Hiding substance use from friends, family, or community (drinking or using alone, sneaking extra drinks at functions, switching or rotating liquor stores). **
Problems with personal and professional relationships
Physical Health problems
Experiencing guilt or shame around your substance use
** if you are using alone and concerned about overdosing, please see below for the Lifeguard App**
Recovery and Treatment Options
I am often asked what I think the best method for addiction treatment is, with abstinence-based programs and harm reduction programs there are a lot to choose from and I believe it depends on the person’s goals, values, and what they think would be most helpful for them. The one thing that I believe to be most beneficial for anyone looking to change their relationship with substances is the connection with others.
In an experiment called Rat Park, Canadian psychologist Bruce Alexander (1981) looked at Rats first in a small cage individually where they could choose water or heroin, and then in a very large cage with other rats, giving them food, toys, sex, he placed a water bottle with heroin and a water bottle with plain water. The rats in small individual cages all eventually gravitated to and became addicted to heroin whereas the rats in the large cage with stimulation and connections to others chose the water. Although this doesn’t consider trauma or emotional concerns, it does show that isolation could increase the likelihood of substance use. In a 2015 Ted Talk Johann Hari shared his belief that sobriety is not the opposite of addiction, rather connection was the opposite of addiction.
Along with connection I recommend people seek out support that helps them process trauma and learn new coping skills. This may be individual or group counselling, inpatient treatment facilities, or outpatient treatment facilities. If you are not sure what would be a good fit for you a therapist or family doctor can help you navigate the options available.
If you are looking to explore your relationship with substances, or want more information about addiction or substance use, or treatment options, please reach out. There are people ready and willing to support you in a way that works for you. There is life after addiction, and recovery is possible.
Lifeguard App
https://www.stopoverdose.gov.bc.ca/theweekly/new-lifeguard-app-can-help-prevent-overdose-death
References
Alexander, B. K., Beyerstein, B. L., Hadaway, P. F., & Coambs, R. B. (1981). Effect of early and later colony housing on oral ingestion of morphine in rats. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 15(4), 571-576.
Hari, Johann (2015). Everything you think you know about addiction is wrong. TedTalk
https://www.ted.com/talks/johann_hari_everything_you_think_you_know_about_addiction_is_wrong?language=en