Substance Use & Addiction

Substance Use & Addiction http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s5wPO-QcVw

I fall from elegance with a dull thud- then apologize for my awkward silence. I sometimes believe I don’t belong around people, that I belong to all the leap days that didn't happen. The way light and darkness mix under my skin has become a storm- You don’t see the lightning, but you hear the echoes. Why do we use?

To Start Feeling Somethingor to Stop Feeling Something

"any negative emotion that's not fully faced and seen for what it is in the moment it arises does not completely dissolve. It leaves behind a remnant of pain." Tolle What do you want to know? Addiction

On the biochemical level the purpose of all addictions is to create an altered state of consciousness Biological chemical neurological psychological medical emotional social political economic The Dream of using…

ADDICTION On a Continuum

Brokenness becomes the norm- I would NEVER do hard drugs…

Craving That Can Never Be Satisfied Hungry Ghosts have huge, empty stomachs, but their thin necks don't allow nourishment to pass. Food turns to fire and ash in their mouths. The Wheel of Life: The Realm of Hungry Ghosts

Does a deck of cards cause compulsive gambling? • “Compulsive drug taking is caused as much by the characteristics of the user as the characteristics of the drugbeing used.” • drugs are only illegal because we made them illegal- don’t villainies the drug i.e. Misconception: The Drug itself will cause addiction

Drugs are emotional anesthetics- I use because I want to stop feeling what's hurting me • Heroin and coke- pain killers. They work for emotional pain too. • Brain scans show the same area of the brain light up whether it is physical or emotional pain • Trauma- pain- desire to repress memory- desire to repress feelings- drugs erase all feeling- new desire to “feel” alive- drug offers that too Addiction ALWAYS originates in pain

Alcoholism is a symptom- explore the roots TRAUMA I said: what about my passion? God said: Keep it burning. I said: what about my heart? God said: Tell me what you hold inside it? I said: pain and sorrow He said: ..stay with it. The wound is the place where the Light enters you. • Epigenetics • Family tradition • It’s always the environment RAT PARK

I'm so confused- • what do you mean you didn’t feel loved???Attunement i.e.. I love you if… • Like nutrients, a mothers emotions are passed down to and felt by the fetus • More on RATS… “children swim in their parents unconscious like fish swim in the sea”- parents may think they have their shit on lockdown but it comes out When the Brady Bunch starts doing blow…

Shame vs guilt

Hypervigelance • Intrusion (over feel) • Constriction (not feel enough) • Polarization “I wonder if you know yet that you’ll leave me… You think I’ll understand your sadness because I live inside my own. But I will show up at your door at 2 am, wild-eyed and sleepless. and try and find some semblance of peace in your breastbone. and you will not let me in. You will tell me to go home.” HURT PEOPLE HURT PEOPLE

Emotional Extremes • Lack of trust of others • Excessive need for control • Everything is perfect one minute and horrible the next • Important things are ignored, and things that don’t matter are blown out of proportion “We Don’t Talk About That…” Common Experiences of ACOA

Many traumatized people expose themselves, seemingly compulsively, to situations reminiscent of the original trauma. • Freud thought that the aim of repetition was to gain mastery, but clinical experience has shown that this rarely happens; instead, repetition causes further suffering for the victims or for people in their surroundings. • Harm to Others Re-enactment of victimization is a major cause of violence. Criminals have often been physically or sexually abused as children • Self-destructiveness (harm to self) Self-destructive acts are common in abused children. Addiction, cutting etc. “Ill Make you Feel How I Feel” "repetition compulsion"

The Addict/ScapegoatThe MascotThe HeroThe EnablerThe lost child

Wake up Mental illness runs ramped in this country…We are all a little crazy- drinking brings me one step closer to crazy Get up and wake up- this isn't living… you are missing it Don’t focus on the fall- the miracle is in the decision to get back up, clear off the debris and fight to live and I mean really freaking live This is recovery- fight for what was stolen… laugh, cry, love, fail, succeed, get hurt, get up and do it all over again

Identifying “parts”internal family systems Exiles, managers, protectors, firefighters Mapping- how do you feel toward your parts

If you want to get sober- find meaning and purpose Quotes the way they bore their suffering was a genuine inner achievement. It is this spiritual freedom — which cannot be taken away — that makes life meaningful and purposeful. everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way

Sons of alcoholic men experience more of the pleasurable effects of alcohol and less of the negative (ie don’t get hangovers as easy) • Birth control pills slow the rate alcohol is removed from the body • The divorce rate is higher for alcoholic women than it is alcoholic men (ie. Madonna Complex) • Up to 90% of male chronic drinkers report problems with ED (whisky dick), lower sperm count and decreased sex drive Alcohol… fun facts

Long term use= shrinking brain tissue due to loss of brain cells • Frontal lobes are most damaged- solve complex problem and create action plans, judgment • If a person stops drinking, new brain cells do not appear, but the remaining cell will grow • 70% of individuals seeking treatment for alcohol abuse report problems with “new” memories, abstract thinking, problem solving, attention/concentration, perception of emotion ( cant interpret others emotion based on tone, inflection etc.) Alcohol continued

Early 20’s= brain significantly impacted by alcohol and learning ability is compromised • The younger you start the more likely you will get addicted • Chemicals don’t think they need to work any longer • University study Alcohol and the “young” brain

“Imagine trying to live without air.Now imagine something worse.” ― Amy Reed, Clean

Substance Use & Addiction