Suffering from an addiction is a real burden. Our addictions can rule our life, make it difficult to maintain and sustain relationships, work, keep control on our finances and enjoy a fulfilling and happy life.
More often than not we can live in denial about how our addiction is affecting our life, how it is impacting on our families and destroying our self esteem. We can be addicted to substances or have addictive behaviours.
Substance misuse is rising. Drug dependency is no longer limited to heroine, cocaine, or marijuana. Increasingly there are new drugs out there that can affect us or our loved ones. More and more of us are addicted to sleeping tablets and pain killers and use these to manage our lives and escape all the pain we feel. Alcoholism is rising among all sectors of society. The British Medical Association has estimated that one in fifteen doctors will at some point in their lives develop an addiction problem and that they are three times more likely to develop cirrhosis of the liver than the general population.
Getting Help with Addiction
If you feel as though your addiction to a drug or alcohol is affecting your life then counselling and therapy are a good way of exploring the underlying issues that led you to your addictive behaviour. Until you begin to unravel your impulses and motivations you may not be aware of how these affect on your present behaviour. Having therapy and understanding more about yourself can give you the power to make new and more productive choices as you are freed from your addiction and the thoughts that chain you to it.
You may be the partner of parent of someone who has an addiction problem. It may be difficult for you to stand by and watch, and you may be at a loss of how to help. Therapy can be a way of you growing in strength and resilience, to you prioritising yourself and identify wether you have any traits that are enabling a drug or alcohol misuse within the relationship.
Addictions are not only about substance misuse. Addictive behaviour is a huge problem and can have the same impact as substance misuse. Over eating, addiction to porn, gambling, and over spending can be debilitating and leading the sufferer to desperation. As with substance misuse embarking on the therapeutic journey can help you unblock your thinking and free you of your addictive behaviour. Once you grow in understanding of yourself and your problems, you become free to make new choices in life.