What motivates problematic substance use, and what motivates people to change it? Maybe the following quote will give you some insight.
“Achieving life is not the equivalent of avoiding death. Joy is not ‘the absence of pain,’ intelligence is not ‘the absence of stupidity,’ light is not ‘the absence of darkness… Building is not done by abstaining from demolition; centuries of sitting and waiting in such abstinence will not raise one single girder for you to abstain from demolishing. . . . Existence is not a negation of negatives.”
-Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
A popular approach to helping people with substance use involves “confronting denial.” It is believed that substance users are unaware of the many potential costs and risks of substance use, and they need to be confronted with these – by:
- Family members – who are supposed to make them aware of the pain caused by the substance user
- Interventionists – who tell them they’ve seen countless substance users face tragic consequences
- 12 step members – who tell them they’ll face “jails, institutions, or death” if they don’t stop
- Counselors – who tell them all of the above and more
But most substance users already understand these risks and costs, and even if they don’t, they still continue to use substances after being “confronted” with them or even after experiencing many of them personally. Each of the parties listed above are trying to motivate the substance user with a negative. There’s no doubt that negative consequences can have a place in the internal calculus that usually eventuates in the personal change of troubling habits (LOL – I think I lifted a term from Kevin McCauley there, but I assure you I still disagree with him). However:
“Achieving life is not the equivalent of avoiding death. Joy is not ‘the absence of pain,’ intelligence is not ‘the absence of stupidity,’ light is not ‘the absence of darkness… Building is not done by abstaining from demolition; centuries of sitting and waiting in such abstinence will not raise one single girder for you to abstain from demolishing. . . . Existence is not a negation of negatives.”
Plenty of people spend years focusing on and indeed experiencing the negative consequences of heavy substance use and other troubling habits – yet continue to make the same choices. Why? Because, for all of the costs involved, there are also benefits involved. Somewhere in the mind of the problematic substance user, heavy substance use is part of a vision of personal happiness.
Personally, I spent 5 years in the recovery culture, attending various treatment programs and 12-step support groups. I spent a lot of time focusing on ending the negative consequences I was putting myself through with my substance use. I wanted to avoid jail, avoid health problems, avoid poverty, avoid homelessness, avoid social alienation, etc etc etc. I had a few periods of abstinence that lasted between 3-12 months each. I fueled my abstinence with motivation that aimed extremely low – I was aiming at the absence of everything listed above. It wasn’t very satisfying. The motivation always disappeared. The happiness promised by substance use always proved to be more motivating. Abstaining, is doing nothing. Getting high, is doing something. It is an act that aims higher than the avoidance of problems.
When I arrived at the Saint Jude Retreats, in March of 2002, I was taught that I was aiming low. I was aiming at the type of happiness which is short-lived, and yes, the kind of happiness that comes with great costs. But it was assumed that I already understood these costs. I wasn’t confronted, and those costs weren’t harped. I was asked if I wanted to aim higher. I was asked if I was willing to believe that I could build greater levels of happiness in my life in other ways. I was taught that whether or not to use drugs was a simple choice. I chose to build something greater, to aim higher, to find greater levels of happiness. I haven’t had a problem with drug or alcohol use since then.
I believe all human behavior is motivated by the pursuit of happiness. When people both continue a painful behavior, and when they make big lasting changes in personal behavior that result in greater happiness, it’s because they’re aiming at a target that’s higher than the absence of pain.
“Achieving life is not the equivalent of avoiding death. Joy is not ‘the absence of pain. . . Existence is not a negation of negatives.”
To their credit, 12-step programs do offer a vision of greater happiness. They promise a spiritual life that will “rocket” you into “the fourth dimension.” They promise a relationship with God. If all this spiritual stuff and the other lifestyle prescriptions of these programs appeal to you – and you can somehow remain impervious to all the negative self-defeating aspects of these programs at the same time (as a very small percentage of people do) – then you may find them helpful. If not, you will feel very lost.
If you get involved in the trendier treatment programs that focus on “underlying issues” as the cause of substance use, and focus on reducing the pain of these issues, such as trauma, stress, anxiety, depression, etc – then you will likely only be focusing on reaching a state of absence of various pains. Where does the pursuit of happiness fit into this? Some happiness is obviously involved in escaping pain, but if this is your target, you’re still aiming very low. The motive power of such a strategy usually peters out, and the shinier object – the low, yet still higher levels of happiness provided by heavy substance use – usually becomes more motivating. Then you can be left with more of a mess as substance use has now become tangled into all of your other life issues.
Still, other programs will tell you to get focused on particular “values” – community, family, career, spirituality, etc. This comes from studies in which people who have changed say things such as “I wanted to be a better mother.” True, this thought was a part of someone’s decision to change their substance use problem. But when we take this experience and recommend that all people focus on their family life in order to end a substance use problem, we’re missing the forest for the trees.
What if you’re not interested in family? What if you’re not interested in being rocketed into the fourth dimension? Don’t worry, those are just trees in someone else’s back yard. The forest, is a personal vision of greater happiness. It is a new self-image. It is unique to each person.
Instead of aiming low at the absence of pain and consequences, or aiming at someone else’s extremely specific vision of greater happiness (i.e. the spiritual recovery lifestyle promoted by 12-step groups, or “values” such as “family” promoted by others), why not develop your own personal image of greater happiness. Some level of substance use may be part of that new self-image, or it may not. It really doesn’t matter. Substance use isn’t special. It’s one more way to attain a particular type happiness. View it accurately as such, and it can find its place within your personal view of greater happiness, whatever that may be. You are always acting to attain happiness. If you are willing to stop looking at your choices as pathological, and start owning them as a pursuit of happiness, then you can start comparing your options, judge each on it’s merits, and confidently pursue what you judge to be your greatest options for happiness.
Note: I welcome almost all comments, but ad hominems directed at the author of the quote used in this post will not be tolerated here. I understand Rand is controversial, but please judge the quote on its own merits, or your comments will be deleted.
