What is going on in my brain? What is the chemical mechanism? Why cant I just tell my brain to stop craving the substance? Why is the addiction removing all of my inhibitions?
This is hell.
In: Biology
I’ve lost multiple family members to addiction, so I intimately know the experience and its ripples.
Why is it so hard? Well this depends on a lot of factors, whether or not you have any neurodivergence, trauma, mental illnesses, your physical make up and which substance you’re referring to.
There’s physical and chemical addiction, which is where your body develops a physical dependence on a substance, say like heroin for example, where your body feels as though it needs it to survive and you can experience extreme withdrawals even potentially fatal, same with severe alcoholism.
Then there’s circumstantial addictions, things that have rituals, like smoking where even if the particular product you’re using isn’t necessarily addictive, the ritual of smoking is, and the action itself is a way of self-soothing.
Then there’s escapism, where you’re using it to escape a perpetual discomfort/grief that one experiences and they use substances to run from the sensation of soberly enduring that emotion or thought pattern. All of the above can be experienced simultaneously.
It takes so much more than will power to overcome addiction. It’s a legitimate disorder and people need support, strategy and care to overcome it. If you’re addicted to something that’s dismantling your life and you can see it eroding before you, please seek professional intervention.
I’m currently seeing a clinical psychologist to manage my addiction and it has been helpful – its not all progress, but any steps forward, are steps forward
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