Addicts Anomyous
 

My name is Jess and I am an addict.

My name is Sarah and... I'm an addict...

My name is Zed and I am an addict...

Thank you.
So, what do we do here?

Romp.
Addict.

Personally? No. I know it is real.
Do you mean that you feel alcohol is exacerbating it for you?
In that, there is something there, but the alcohol intensifies it?
Not sure...

my name is katy, and im an addict

Emotionally/mentally, not really.

I'm D'Arcy and I'm an alcoholic and an addict.
I've been sober for six months, it feels like five years, and at the moment it kind of sucks. Still the best thing I've ever done for myself though!

Hello to all
Gee - I have done, yes.
I'm currently finding it hard to avoid drinking more than I know I should because I'm scared of not being able to sleep through the night...

Hi my name is Adrian, I am a recovering addict. I haven't used in 7 months. Cutting, however, I've only got 30 days. Kind of feeling a little nervous about the potential for SI relapse, but otherwise I'm good.

If you are comfortable with your level or addiction/dependancy is it really a problem? If it affects the people around you e.g. you are stealing from them etc. then yeh, it's a problem for the people around you but if you feel comfortable and in control of your dependancy surely if can't be a problem, right?
Maybe this is me in denial, I don't know?

I'm not sure, I have days where I think with my head and days where I think with my heart, if that makes sense. Realistically I guess it depends on the damage it's doing to you? But at the moment I'm thinking as long as it's under my control and I'm keeping things consistent etc. then it's ok.

Im matt, and im an addict

Welcome Matt =)

Zed, I guess I agree. I've been thinking about that a lot recently, I still don't know how I really feel about it. I want to tell someone I'm slipping again but I don't want them to try and stop me, I'm not ready to stop. Before I enjoyed it being a secret but this time it's like the words are dirty and I want to spit them out, 'I'm struggling'. Hmm, I guess for now I'll keep it a secret.
Oh and to top it off we are starting Addiction in psychology this week. Great! Thanks for your replies.

*hugs Gee*
I completely understand what you mean. At the moment I'm just trying to keep it under my control and as long as it is then it's okay, in a way, to keep going this way, for now. And that sucks about studying addiction... Still, it's not a secret from me so if I can help in any way just give me a poke =)

my name is harry monk & i am a bastad addict

hits the fridge for yet another beer

I'm Liv...Im an addict.x

i'm heidi and im an addict

this is one of the hardest things ive ever had to do

im craving so much im in so much pain :'(

well done all you brave people! I admire you all.
I'm beginning to wonder if im an addict.

My name is Haley. I was an addict. I've been clean for 2 months. Lately i've been having cravings. My friend has just recently, on the 2nd of March, OD'd. I remember, how it felt, when I used to be like that. I need help. =/

Hi, I'm Melanie and I'm an alcoholic. I've been sober for 2 1/2 years.

Once an addict, always an addict.

^^ I hate that, it's true but it sucks...

I'm hopfeully going to be getting help soon, sounds better than the what I got last time so hoping it works...

It's a personality trait, it's built into you from a young age. You are born and addict and you die an addict. You may be clean from substance abuse but you will probably never stop being addicted to things. Even trivial things. It sucks but it appears it is true, 'once an addict, always an addict'.

In Psychology we learnt that addiction is a escapism; a way of escaping problems in your life, I agree with this but then there are some psychologists that say that an addiction is a 'choice'. I thought about it for a long time and I think I agree with this, you choose to take another pill or have another drink, you choose to revert back to the addiction in times of need. This implies we have control over our addictions and in the height of mine I would disagree with what I'm saying, but now, almost 'clean', I see it's true. I could have stopped if I wanted to but I didn't. I choose to continue taking the pills. I told myself I couldn't live without them so I didn't.

Addictions may be a coping mechanism but you have to choose to start them, you could easily use exercise or something healthy to help you cope with stresses etc but we choose unhealthy substances and continued to use them because we believed they were the only thing that worked.

I hope I haven't offended anyone, I'm just voicing my opinion. Feel free to disagree.

I disagree. Some people have addictive personalities, others can do things in moderation.
Addiction is way too complex to be labelled a choice, It affects us chemically, emotionally. These things lead to choices. Addicts simply have greater stimuli and pressure telling them to do things, so choice is not a word i would use. Mearly because it suggests nonchalence, and laziness which i guess are the sterotypes of an addict, especially to a straight laced psychologist.
Neverthless i say this with a massive glass of wine in hand, and some zydol tablets underneath my matress, waiting for me.
Sure I choose to take the things, but personally i feel I have little more control over my addiction than I do my sexuality, or my height. They are part of me. That isnt choice.
hope i wasnt too blunt. lol

Addiction is not a choice. There is clear scientific research that people are genetically predisposed from birth to be alcoholics or addicts. Now, taking that first drink or drug is a choice. It is the act of using substances that activates the part of the brain that in a person with that gene and makes the person an addict. It lies dormant until then.


Yes, it is true that this is a chronic, progressive illness. There is no cure, but there is a spiritual solution through 12 step. We have the choice not to take the first drink or drug once we have recovered and gotten sober. Once we take that first drink or drug, choice is removed from us. People who are TRUE addicts/alcoholics cannot use in moderation. We have tried to do so desparately, and are unable. It is not a matter of will power. It is not a moral issue. There are people who abuse drugs and alcohol, or who are heavy drinkers. They may be able to control their drinking when they need to. They are not addicts or alcoholics.

I became an alcoholic when I could not get help for my mental illness and was self-medicating to a great extent, but I know that I would've become an alcoholic at some point regardless, and that I have the disease of alcoholism, separate and apart from the disease of bipolar disorder. People with bipolar disorder are 14.5 times more likely to be addicts than the general population. Bipolar disorder and substance abuse/addiction have upwards of a 60% co-morbidity rate.

So, coping mechanism: To an extent. That's an element of it. But the coping mechanism part of it wouldn't have overtaken my life if I was not hardwired to become an alcoholic.

I'm glad you're disagreeing cause it's helping me understand it more but I guess it's subjective. You base your understanding and beliefs about everything on personal experience (excluding scientific research, obvisouly). I also think that when people simplify their beliefs towards addiction, i.e. when I say that it is a choice, it makes them feel better about it because it makes them feel more in control, this is called an internal attirbution style. By saying it is a choice I feel that I am the one in control of it, meaning I am more likely to want to get recover and successfully stop being addicted.

I do, however, understand that once I am clean of my chosen stubstance it is more than likely that I will just then fill that hole with something else, maybe something less damaging but something nonetheless. I firmly believe the statement, 'Once an addict, always an addict'.

Thank you guys for helping me see more than my point of view on this.

My name is Amanda and I am an addict.

Yeah, its good you seek to understand your addiction. It is complex, and personally labelling addiction a choice makes me feel worse(It makes me feel weak, lazy and selfish. In retrospect, i could be making excuses for myself. but hey, I'll never know.) , but you are right. Addiction is way more deep than a cookie cutter reason: we all reached the same place by diffrent paths, and different things pushed us onto those paths.
Im really glad you feel in control of your addiction. How has it been going?
Addiction is a life time thing, and that is why it isnt a choice.

I'm Ruby and I'm a stage 2 alcoholic.

I also agree with addiction being in the genes. My paternal grandmother and my father and his brothers are all alcoholics. My mother and grandmother are alcoholics and compulsive gamblers.

I've got a lot on my plate to prevent.

<3 this thread.

I went to my first group session yesterday for drug and alcohol addictions/dependencies. It was interesting to say the least. It was wonderful to be in a place where people knew exactly what it's like to be in this position, people that understood, people that were right there in it. We were talking and people were saying things and I just kept on nodding away and it felt really nice to not be so 'alone' with it. I'm hoping over the next few weeks I'll be able to gain the support to cut down.

I'm Kathryn and I don't know where else to post... But I'm psychologically addicted to weed... Does this fit in here?

I would think so, yes, welcome Kathryn =)

Ahhh okay
Thanks for the welcome (:

My name is Nell and I'm an addict.

my name is lyddy and i just fell off the wagon XD like... 6 and half hours ago. lol

My name is Kevin, and Im an addict

Feel free to disagree with me too... But I think/hope this makes sense.
I've recently started smoking weed every day. I wake up in the morning, and I think about who I'm going to buy it from, if I'm going to go halves with someone on it and where and when I'll smoke it.
I think this is because a) in the last month I've come to terms with the fact that I was SA'd for a good number of years and b) around the same time, I was self harming again... Normally I can stay off it for a few months if I stop myself from doing it (as in, if I decide to stop then I will stop and I can stay off it), but my Mum saw my scars, and I had to stop abruptly. No weaning myself off it, no stopping because I chose to, but because someone else did.
And I don't think I'm coping very well with this, which is why I'm doing this every day, and other drugs at weekends.
But that's the thing, it seems like my emotions are being hidden from me... So I don't really know what I'm feeling, and me saying this is more like an objective opinion than a subjective one.
Does this make any sense?

I'm Shannon and I'm an addict. *clings to Liv*

*clings to shan*

Well....I fell back in the hole and I climbed out of it.....but im having a horrible time of it, i feel awful,its the worst feeling ever.

The fact that you fell in or how you're feeling now that you've climbed out?

**** happens. It's good that you were able to get back out. And things will get better. :)

My name is Jackie and i'm an addict.

Pain killers. There are some in the cupboard. I can hear them calling.

I will not give in..................................I hope :[