Comments on: Hitting Bottom

By: Parents of Addicts Question Expert Advice to Allow Harm

Parents of Addicts Question Expert Advice to Allow Harm — Fri, 21 May 2010 08:06:48 +0000

[...] right before their eyes? What could make them persist even when it should be clear that the whole hitting bottom thing isn’t [...]

By: recoveryhelpdesk

recoveryhelpdesk — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 00:16:17 +0000

In the last sentence of the post, I was trying to say that if we would intervene with effective treatment instead of standing “helplessly” watching and waiting for someone to “hit bottom,” we could have supported early recovery and prevented some of the harm and suffering.

By: Addiction, Lies, Consequences and Recovery — Recovery Helpdesk

Addiction, Lies, Consequences and Recovery — Recovery Helpdesk — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:33:12 +0000

[...] you haven’t already, I would ask you to read my post about “hitting bottom,” because I think it will add to [...]

By: recoveryhelpdesk

recoveryhelpdesk — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 02:23:40 +0000

“Addict thinking” makes me see red! That phrase is used in such a manipulative way by so many providers.

I forgot about “addictive personality,” but I agree with you on that one too.

Thanks for your comment!

By: Zenith

Zenith — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:03:08 +0000

Wow, I could not agree more!! Fantastic post!!!

Another term that I dislike in recovery is “addict thinking” or “addictive personality”. I don’t believe people have an “addictive personality” any more than they have a “diabetic personality” or a “schizophrenic personality”, etc. I don’t believe in most cases that opioid addiction is a personality disorder–I believe it is a brain disease–a chemical imbalance on the brain.

Are some addicts selfish, rude, jerks in general? Sure. Just as with any group of people. But are those things part and parcel of BEING an addict? I don’t think so.

For myself, the few illegal things I did during active addiction were things so alien to my personality that they caused me horrific emotional distress and I felt I had no other choice but to do these things or die–and oftentimes, dying seemed a better option. It was certainly not that I thought it was ok to do these things, nor that I was “selfish” and did not care about the impact on others, etc. And as soon as my chemical imbalance was appropriately treated (with methadone), I returned to being the person I was raised to be, without requiring extensive counseling and therapy or a personality overhaul.

Wondering about your thoughts on these terms?