it takes an addict to understand an addict. 

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT

“We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad”
― Lewis Carroll, “Alice in Wonderland”

Watch the video or read. Your choice!

 

The theories and science presented in the Project Addiction Solution blog are from a combination of sources.

 

Primarily, from my own personal experiences as an addict and the experiences of dozens to hundreds of clients I’ve treated and other drug users, abusers and addicts I have personally known.  There is no greater resource of recovery-data than the very real experiences of those who experiment with drugs

and those who suffer from the disorder of addiction.

 

Addiction,

in any form,

is an ineffable experience;

An experience whose realities cannot be conveyed to the non-addict (though I make about as good an attempt as you can).

 

Addiction is elusive and difficult to understand and 100% of all the addicts I have known and treated agree that it takes an addict to understand an addict.

 

Other sources that are more conventionally scientific, such as clinicians and non-addict professionals or authors,

i.e. practical science,

 

are secondary and insufficient to understanding it.

 

Practical Science is necessary and valuable however,

it can only bring dry clarity to the subject.

 

Neuroscience, psychiatry or psychology may explain what “love” is in the context of the brain and how brain chemicals process it or categorize it

and it can even make a superficial attempt at describing the experience of it,

but it cannot properly elucidate on the meaning or true significance of love in absolute terms!

 

In this blog is all sorts of verified data from practical-science yet I rarely site the source,

rather I take a lot of latitude with the text.

 

Feel free to double and triple check my facts, hypotheses and statistics all you want!

 

It will withstand scrutiny and I hope I earn your trust!

 

Personally, I don’t feel most people are too interested in statistics or names or dates

nor have I ever found citing them useful in treating my own or someone else’s addiction.

 

In some chapters I present several theories on the physiological machinations of addiction.

 

While I am aware of a lot of science that supports these theories, I’m also aware there is probably an equal amount that disagrees with them.

 

The bottom line is this:  No one can fully understand addiction in a measurably scientific manner.

 

The truth of the disorder lies with those who have suffered and recovered(ing) from it.

 

Therefore, the most reliable AND scientific data/info is from the lay-people who’ve experienced it and continue to.

 

Matters of the mind and heart extend beyond clinical perception.

 

So please…!

 

Don’t send a bunch of emails or letters to me or the publishers trying to prove or disprove what you’ve read here!

 

Take what is useful to you and leave the rest.

 

Addiction is a very controversial subject and recovery (like religion and politics) is often populated by people who are opinionated and hard-headed.

 

As I criticize and offer expanded views of various theories and contradicting forms of treatment and schools of thought,

most of which are my own,

I am not intending to offend anyone.

 

I am merely pointing out my own personally verified

experiences and those of dozens or hundreds of others.

 

OLD SCHOOL

 

I do not believe a non-addict is a qualified person to help an addict.

This has also been verified with 100% of the hundreds if not thousands of addicts I have met, treated and known in my life.

 

However… bottom-line is:

whether it’s religion, 12-Steps, love, parenting or an asylum that ultimately activates someone’s recovery, it makes no difference- so long as it works.

 

Anything,

and I do mean anything,

is a better lifestyle than one involving the enslavement of drug abuse.

 

My style and approach in treating others has been one of intensity, humor and compassion,

which at times has appeared insensitive as I maintain a healthy, productive and needed objectivity.

 

I assure you,

I care deeply for every one afflicted with this problem and some gallows-humor is often a part of the culture of addiction recovery.

 

Bottom line:

Don’t over-personalize the text too much! I’m not talking specifically to or about YOU!

 

 

AND ME (your humble narrator)?

 

I look at life through a hybrid of practical, rational, scientific, philosophical, mystical and spiritual set of lenses.

 

My addiction, my recovery and life itself has revealed this perspective consistently.

If these lenses are of no interest to you and you want only dry science then this may not be the text for you.

 

I place high value on the sensible and practical in life:

I’m scientific.

 

Yet, my experiences, research and exhaustive studies have brought me to perceive life through the aforementioned philosophical, mystical and spiritual lenses as well.

 

Philosophical, mystical or spiritual perspectives are not fantasy nor exclusively ambiguous.

 

They can be learned with a logical mindset of respect and a sensibility and are far from being impractical or convenient “magical-thinking” concepts.

 

Anything we learn intellectually requires further layers of understanding and often requires pushing the limits of the reality-perception we already have to at least consider something new or beyond our own current logic and reason:

 

Once-upon-a-time they thought the Earth was flat…

but no more!

 

We don’t need to accept the impractical or insensible in order to

develop philosophically, mystically or spiritually;

 

we only need to accept there are further layers to reality than our 5 conventional senses perceive.

 

I mean, c’mon…

love and family and children and growth and fulfilling experiences defy practical science!

 

Sure, science can make it seem mathematically sensible:

neurons and cells and chemicals and blah-blah-blah,

but you and I know it’s much, much more than that!

So…

 

Let’s get started.

 

Next blog post:

Psychonaut. An exploration into the mindset of those who are never satisfied and need to venture to new horizons to discover just what is on the other side of EVERYTHING and how the need to know and feel more is the true source of our habits and addictions.