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Originally Posted by Bruno
"Quitting" addictions is a very complicated thing.
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Agreed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruno
Opiate addictions that started as pain control tend to be pretty "easy" to quit if the source of pain is managed appropriately - there's no significant psychological factor to fight against once the pain is dealt with.
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I've been on opiates for several months on two separate occasions, both times after suffering accidents that broke a lot of bones and ruined other things pretty seriously and required reconstruction. I've never experienced any sign of opiate addiction once my pain grew dull enough to make sleeping possible and may simply be physiologically or psychologically unlikely to suffer from it.
Morphine and strong opiates feel very nice and I can totally see how someone would abuse them, but while I would probably pop the occasional Vicodin if obtaining them was easy and cheap, I doubt it would become a significant part of my life.
Mind you, my doctor friends tell me that the success rate in treating intravenous morphine (usually as Contalgin here) and heroine (rare in Iceland) abuse is still far ahead of nicotine abuse. Physiologically, nicotine is amazingly addictive and psychologically and socially, of course, it often forms a part of personal identity, daily routine and all social ties.
If you're injecting heroine into your eyeballs, there may still be people in your life you don't do that around. Currently, however, it's still socially acceptable to smoke around almost anyone and in any professional setting, as long as you step outside to do so. Combine with the strong habit that forms in many smokers, who do not know how to manage daily stress, boredom and fatigue without smoke breaks, and it's
extremely hard to quit.
Or so I've heard. I actually used to smoke the occasional cigar and pipe, but have somehow lost the habit lately. When I was at school, I used to hang out with the smoking kids the night before each exam and smoke maybe a pack of
cigarillos in a few days. I also smoked a
hookah/
habibi (water pipe) nearly daily. Now, though, I think I've smoked a total of one pipe and one cigar in the past two years. Never really noticed any signs of addiction, but, as I said, I may be bad at addictions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruno
Drug addictions (including alcohol, etc) of any kind that start as an attempt to self-medicate (whether for physical, mental, or social problems) are often extreeemely challenging to shake until the patient has their underlying problem dealt with. This includes problems like "my entire peer group uses X" - if you go back to that peer group, relapse is nearly unavoidable.
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My experience of addicts who have problems functioning in society* is that not a single one of them started using drugs and only as a result of drug use became poorly functioning socially. They all had major psychological issues or trauma in their lives before they began heavy use of drugs and the theory that their drug use was primarily an attempt to self-medicate these seems compelling to me.
Mind you, I've also met a lot of people who
use drugs, but who do not seek treatment, appear addicted or have problems relating to friends and family. Some of these are also clients, yes, but others are just people I know from school, friends of friends, etc.
What seems to distinguish them from the extremely damaged addicts is that they do not have underlying psychological issues. I'm fairly skeptical any time those chemical substances currently illegal are posited as some sort of magical addict creation potions.
I mean, yes, there is a legitimate, documented risk of physical addiction, the treatment of which is allegedly extremely uncomfortable, with opiates and some other chemicals, like nicotine. But that physical addiction does not automatically translate into pathological psychological dependency that seriously interferes with a person's ability to function, at least not absent other psychological factors.
People aren't somehow addicted to amphetamines, cannabis, cocaine or most other recreational drugs simply because they tried them once. Not even if they use them occasionally, no more than with any other chemical. I've seen no evidence that the rate of addiction is any higher than those who try alcohol, for example. And most people are aware that the number of people who sometimes drink alcohol, socially or otherwise, but function normally enough in life, is
massively higher than that of those who find themselves unable to control their drinking.
*Which as a defence attorney, I encounter a lot.