There's some shitty posts on Facebook and around the web, saying "forget her she was just a weak junky" that really irks me. Addiction is all about science.
The thing with addicts on the path of destruction is the hope in all of us that a change could occur that would turn the person around. Yet, the change that could save a person in such a condition is an internal one that the onlooker has so little power to instigate, leaving those on the sidelines feeling helpless and frustrated at not just the person but the weakness of the human condition. I've known enough young people, full of potential, who are destroying themselves, who are told so, and who keep on destroying themselves. Or worse, who stop and see that they need to change, seem to do so, and then relapse hard. Just because it's predictable doesn't make it less tragic. Maybe it's even more so because no one could stop the inevitable from occurring.
I'm reading "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts" by Gabor Maté, and I'd say it's one of the most important books on addiction out there right now. Backed up by hard science as well as Maté's own experiences working directly with addicts in a near-palliative end-of-life state makes the read compelling and useful. I've been working with a mother who at first seemed to be in a healthy stage of recovery from crack addiction. She's a strong, intelligent lady. After a year of inpatient treatment, she returned to her supportive partner and young child full of courage and hope about the challenges of managing life without drugs. She connected with her partner in an honest way. She reached out to her supports and therapist in a way that seemed to indicate she'd found a new way to cope. She found a job that was supportive and not too stressful. She seemed, as her file was closing, to be one of my programs success stories. Within two days of closing her file, we got a call that she was having a drug party at her home with the baby present. She was back on crack, had surrounded herself with the unhealthy people she had previously distanced herself from, had destroyed her relationship with her partner and had her child apprehended from her due to the unsafe conditions she subjected the child to. Total, utter self sabotage. Maté's book helped me understand this mom's situation and not take it personally that she had relapsed in spite of all the support I connected her with. Addiction is this complex situation starting with early brain development and lack of healthy attachment. The research Maté presents makes clear why some people can use drugs without addiction, while others are instantly hooked. That hard wiring related to impulse control and healthy neurochemical functioning happens so early in life that one is already addiction-prone (or not) by early childhood, and the rest is about whether you're fortunate or unfortunate in the things you're exposed to in later life. Now that I understand the science, I can grasp why very strong people still fail at recovery, and why relapse rates are so damn high.
If we studied Winehouse's brain what would we find? The impulse control centre under-functioning, the brain chemicals for feelings of comfort and well-being under producing. If we looked at Winehouse's early childhood (when much of one's brain functioning is developing), what would be find? A lack of healthy attachment and abnormally high levels of stress for a young child to endure. This is the profile of a person most likely to become an addict. While we can provide treatment which more often that not fails at the late stages of addiction, really the best prevention is in-utero and in early childhood rather than in adulthood. Claiming that someone addicted to drugs is weak or lazy is scientifically moronic. It's like asking someone with blindness related to brain function to toughen up and see. The problem, it seems to me, is that the general population, including many of the families of addicts, lack and understanding of the science of addiction and instead consider it a character flaw. The stigma of labeling someone a fuck-up, rather than understanding that their brain is improperly functioning has only lead to failed treatment and destroyed families. I can't help but wonder what leaps and bounds could be made toward better treatment of addiction if we as a society got over this blaming and false understanding and embraced the science? It's an intriguing prospect.
TL:DR - What we need more of is Science!
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Topic: She Didn't Want to go to Rehab (Read 2347 times)