Therapist Unlimited Blog

Powerful Steps Toward Defeating Drug Addiction
By Jacob Malewitz

Addiction can never be entirely beatenóit has a power over you that will only end, at the end. There is a pathway out of it. Addiction is more than dangerous than just stopping your heart or destroying your mind. In a sense, it destroys what spirit you have left. Letís fight back.

Seeing the Problem:
The problem is there; donít look away. Drug addiction works on your body and mind, sure, but it also works on your entire life. That means drug addiction cannot be defeated when you put it down and stop wanting it; itís beaten when you start seeing the problem. Addicts across the world may disagree: addiction is fun; addiction helps the pain; addiction brings happiness. These are all problems. You need creative action to defeat it.

Acting:
You act out on thoughts when using drugs. Maybe youíre reacting to family drama, a pain from long ago. Maybe you see no other way of rewarding yourself. Action works as a counter to all this, because when you act problems are often solved. Taking action, in the beginning, will be a tough enterprise. The drug addiction speaks to you and asks for more. Your job is to beat it creatively. Now the most important step.

Learning Creative Lessons:
Creatively, using drugs is more than a happiness or sadness: itís a death sentence. Learning to handle drugs can be done creatively. You donít have to read everything in books; you can ask around. You might not want to ask your family. A family will sooner judge a drug addict for a mistake. However, the best families will see ways out of the darkness and towards the light.
You react when you use a drug. Can something be put in place of the drug?

Reacting to Pain, Reacting to Happiness:
The emotions are creative in and of themselves. For example, you smoke marijuana: your body reacts. You smoke crack: your body reacts again. Whatever your drug, what you are doing is reacting to it. You can react to a sad movie. You can react to the rain, or react to family drama. Understand the reaction and you understand the drug.

Other Things to Do:
And there are so many other things to do! You can be creative, the life blood of many people seeking a new outlet. Drug addiction is tough, as is dealing with the family drama it causes. You can start a new career or begin a hobby. It is, however, important to remember the thinking addict within you. He will want to go back. Look at it the right way. Itís a powerful drug, but itís you who makes the drug powerful. Drug addiction is in a creative sense just the beginning. Recovering ends up being the finale for the best of us.