Some people really fall for the whole thing, hook, line, and sinker, and that leads to a lot of unnecessary pain. But here’s what’s really going on with addiction, treatment, and recovery – they are social constructs that are killing us:
- The entire concept of addiction – a state in which people are involuntarily using drugs/alcohol, and incapable of stopping – is a myth, and a harmful one at that.
- Anyone can voluntarily stop using substances at any time, but we agree to play along with the myth of addiction because it serves other selfish purposes.
- Moral crusaders created the myth of addiction to scare people out of using alcohol and other drugs.
- Parents like the myth of the “disease of addiction”, because it absolves them of any potential guilt/shame for being “bad parents.”
- Heavy substance users like the myth of addiction because it gives them a socially acceptable excuse to keep using drugs and alcohol.
- “Addiction treatment” is a sham treatment for a fake disease, and results in no greater success at getting over a substance use problem than if people received no help whatsoever.
- Parents, spouses, other family members, and moral crusaders like addiction treatment because it allows them to tell substance users how to live their lives while not appearing to do so. Ordering people to stop drinking/drugging is reframed as generously offering “the gift of treatment.”
- It’s impossible to recover from a fake disease. So “treatment” for “addiction” and “recovery” from it is nothing more than a charade – a ritual and a show that we put on for each other.
- “Working on recovery” is a show that heavy substance users put on to save face, and to signal to society and their families that they’re sorry, and trying to conform and live up to cultural standards.
- Families, politicians, and activists agree to the charade of “supporting people in recovery” in large part because it allows them to engage in conspicuous caring, appearing virtuous. (in large part by paying for addiction treatment)
- Doctors furthered the myth of “addictive drugs” in the early 1900s so they could become the gatekeepers of opiates, and secure ongoing business for their profession. As such, they are complicit in all the destruction that has resulted from drug prohibition.
- A smaller percentage of Americans were “addicted” to opioids when anyone could legally buy as much heroin, opium, and morphine as they wanted – than now.
- Rates of problematic substance use have only gone up since American society has embraced the myths of addiction, addictive drugs, treatment, and recovery.
- Withdrawal is a side effect of heavy substance use, not the cause of it. If it was the cause, anyone could be “cured” of their “addiction” with a week or two of supervised detoxification in the hospital. But people often go back to heavy substance use after detox because they prefer it.
- Drug prohibition, which is based on the myth of addictive drugs, is the cause of the surge in overdose deaths.
- People who believe more strongly in the disease model of addiction become more likely to “relapse” (return to problematic levels of use).
- “Alcoholics” who are taught that they will “lose control” of their drinking after a single drink become multiple times more likely to binge drink than those who aren’t taught this myth.
- The myths of addiction are causing people to feel helplessly addicted, struggle longer, and in some cases die an early death.
- Most (not all) people who understand these truths are afraid to speak them because they’ll be seen as unsympathetic. Some think it’s better to keep the myths alive because “addicts and alcoholics” can’t be trusted with the truth.
There are some very beautiful and hopeful truths about substance use too. For example, well over 90% of people who fit the diagnosis for the fake disease of addiction will solve their substance use problems, and the vast majority of them will never enter into the confusing world of sham treatments and “recovery.” EVERYONE who gets over their substance use problem essentially does it “on their own” even if they’ve received help, because the power to change comes from within.
If you’re lost in the treatment/recovery movement’s web of misinformation, you can learn the empowering facts and find your way out with my book The Freedom Model for Addictions: Escape the Treatment and Recovery Trap. It’s available in print or Kindle at Amazon, and is taught at The Freedom Model Retreats for those who need to get away from the chaos and interpersonal conflict of a life of heavy substance use while they learn how to solve their problems (not recover from a fake disease).
