We are, on a whole, a society of addicts. Have you ever seen the AT&T commercial with the little kids and the girl states, “We just want more!”? This is the battle cry for our addiction-consumed society. Whether it is drugs in the form of alcohol or cocaine or in such behaviors like overeating, gambling, pornography or shopping, we just can’t seem to get enough.

Why is it so hard for me to stop using ________? This question has been asked by probably millions upon millions of people over time.  There has been research done on addiction for decades.  While there have been many advances made in the understanding of addictive disorders like drug addiction, alcoholism , and sex addiction, to name but a few, many people still struggle to quit.

Last week, I wrote about the costs of drug addiction.  This week, I’d like to focus on the rewards of addiction recovery. For many active addicts, their drug of choice is kind of like their best friend. The drug addict and the drug have this kind of love-hate relationship often seen in the best and worst of partnerships. So it’s no wonder that when the addict tries to let go of the drug there is often a great deal of difficulty.

Addiction comes in many forms.  Often when we think of this disorder we think of its impact on the individual.  There are many harmful effects associated with addiction: poor health, legal consequences, and psychological problems to name but a few.  For most individuals who are in active addiction their lives are ruled by the relentless desire to get more of the substance despite how bad things become. But addiction goes far beyond the problems associated with the individual addict.

When it comes to recovery from active addiction, there are many approaches and treatments that have been tried over the years (see The Best Way to Quit Using Drugs).  Research has shown that addiction is a physiological disease that manifests itself in abnormal behavior.  Along with this is the idea that the addict’s disease actually began before the individual picked up the first drug.

In one of my recent blog posts, The Best Way to Quit Using Drugs, I discussed various means in which an individual could try to arrest his/her addiction.  In response to the article, I had two readers comment with opposing points of view. One raised the point that treatments like Suboxone (Buprenorphine) and Methadone have been used to help treat addiction to opioids.   The other reader had a more abstinence-based response and stated that one needs to address his/her addiction by kicking the habit “cold turkey.”

Addiction comes in many forms: drugs/alcohol, food, sex, money, work, etc., etc. In some respects I do believe we live in an addictive society. It’s like we can never be satisfied with what we have.  We have to have more.  Often this can produce disastrous results.  When you consider the costs associated with addiction, the losses are in the billions of dollars.  Healthcare, work productivity, and the legal/penal system are overburdened as a result.

This video provides simple, easy to follow tips for addiction recovery including, having a belief in one's recovery, reaching out for help, and replacing unhealthy behaviors with healthy ones.

If I were to take a poll of 100 recovering addicts and ask them what method they used to get clean I would likely get a number of responses.  And that’s the point. The best way to quit using drugs is determined by the addict. What works for one individual may not work for another. The method you take to quit using drugs is best decided by you.

Addiction is a particularly destructive thing. Addictive behavior is often thought to center around drug use or a particular behavior, which I believe, to some degree. However, there are many that think that addiction goes much deeper than that.