Colin Farrell and Madchild Mature Out of Addiction – Research Shows This Is More Common Than You May Think
I was reading two profiles of men in their mid-thirties who recently changed their problematic substance use habits, rapper Madchild, and actor Colin Farrell, and of course it reminded of the theory my friend Stanton Peele is so fond of – that people generally mature out of addiction, i.e. they grow up and change their behavior. Heck, it’s insulting to even refer to this as a theory – it’s a fact – it’s right on the money. This is the general pattern with problematic drug and alcohol use – it is not the lifelong death sentence that we’re told about – people grow out of it.
Reading these guys’ stories, I realized their ages line up perfectly with what I remembered that Harvard professor Gene Heyman said in his amazing book (Addiction: A Disorder of Choice), and I quote:
Fig 4.1 from Addiction: A Disorder of Choice, by Gene Heyman, 2009, page 71
Figure 4.1 shows that at approximately age 24 more than half of those who ever met the criteria for addiction no longer reported even one symptom, and that by about age 37 approximately 75 percent of those who ever met the criteria for dependence were no longer reporting any symptoms
In the above quote he’s referring to data from the Epidemiological Catchment Area study conducted between 1980-1984. Study after study seem to come up with the same basic curve of “addictive” style substance use beginning for people in their early 20’s, and a majority of people changing that style of use sometime between the mid 20’s to mid 30’s. I was reminded that Heyman said 75% get over their problems by age 37 today as I realized that Collin Farrell who was talking about recently quitting is 36 years old, and rapper Madchild who quit within the past 2 years is now 37 years old.
As I’ve said in the past, addiction is for kids – adding to the ECA data cited by Heyman, the annual NSDUH data supports the existence of this trend, and data from the NESARC studies supports it as well. Stories from the likes of Farrell and Madchild are supportive of this general trend too, not only because of the age when they changed, but also because of how they view their life changes. Both make statements indicating that they’ve matured. Farrell said:
“My first-born was three years of age before I made anything that I would even pretend was a mature decision,” he says. “So I can’t say that fatherhood immediately changed me. But I’m different to what I was yesterday, and life is quieter now for me than it was a few years ago. I’m cool with that. I love my kids. I’m crazy about them.”
“It’s helped to stay away from cocaine and whisky,” he says, smiling, when we touch on past misdemeanours. “Life moves in cycles. I’m not going to say there was a particular day or time [when things changed], or even that I’m a different man. I enjoy the work more, I enjoy being a dad more, I enjoy doing things that I never thought I’d enjoy.”
And rapper Madchild says in his interview:
“It’s not a self-pity thing, it’s a learning experience. But I just grew out of it. Some don’t, but I did. I have my family and my music and my group and my dogs. I have life, you know. Life is such a blessing when you come out of such a dark place. My family used to be so proud of me, from coming from nothing to almost something. Then I sort of let everybody down and that was really heartbreaking to see. And they’re proud of me again. They don’t have to worry about me anymore. We’re past the time that I might screw up again. I’ve got to keep busy, keep working. Which is why, 22 months later, I’m building a buzz again. And I’m stopping to smell the flowers.”
More talk of growing up. It’d be nice if most people with substance use problems could get this message – that you can grow out of excessive substance use, and move on to different things. Unfortunately, our treatment system teaches them to embrace the identity of a lifelong “addict” or “alcoholic”. Reality shows that this doesn’t have to be a lifelong thing, and usually isn’t. Here’s yet another chart plotting that common trend of aging or maturing out of addiction, from another analysis of NESARC data:
By Steven Slate
Steven Slate has personally taught hundreds of people how to change their substance use habits through choice - while avoiding the harmful recovery culture and disease model of addiction.
I agree in the value of helping each other, something you don’t get when you just quit on your own or go to smart recovery meetings. My 2 cents.
“Grow out of addiction?” What the heck are you talking about? What “addiction” do you speak of? That is the most rediculous thing I have ever read. I just don’t know how one “grows” out of heroin addiction. Please explain.
I’m sorry, but I am a heroin addict who is 8 months into recovery, and I just think what you speak of here are people who are not addicts. These people are drug users. Plain and simple. You are useing the term “addiction” in the wrong way. Does this site know what real addiction is? Im baffled at such ignorance being spread on this site.
Hi Tom,
People in the recovery culture love to say that anyone who doesn’t eternally struggle with addiction aren’t “real addicts”. It’s a fallacious argument.
In the NA meeting I attended, the old timers said you are an addict when you say you are. When I said in a closed meeting I am not an addict, they were fine with it and said I couldn’t come to that meeting anymore because closed meetings are for addicts only. I said we are just using the word different. I came to understand they believe they are an addict, always were, always will be. Whereas some people go through addictions and come out of it.
I don’t know about the treatment centers. When I went in the early 80’s, denial was the big buzzword. Say you are an alcoholic or you are in denial.
Ok, so you are basically telling me you use the term “addict” very loosely around this site. Let’s talk about people who are physically addicted to a drug. One who can’t function without their drug. One who can’t get out of bed without it. Sorry, that person doesn’t grow out of addiction IMO …
I was a heroin addicts for 6 years. I went to twelve step meetings for 2 years and couldn’t quit for longer than 6 weeks. And because i was an “addict”, i always had an excuse to relapse. Now ive been clean for 17 months and i wouldn’t go to a 12 step meeting if you paid me. No excuses, no shoulders to cry on. I’m happier and more successful than ever. Nothing against AA or NA, I am all for anything that helps people in need. Just like church, if thats what it takes for you to be a good person, I am all for it. But my higher power doesn’t require me to go to church to know him. And if 12 step meetings are what it takes for you to stay sober, great, but not everyone fits into the little box of religion or “addiction”. And if you try to put all addicts in the same box, your as close minded as someone who uses drugs everyday but says they arn’t an addict.
Let’s talk about people who are physically addicted to a drug. One who can’t function without their drug. One who can’t get out of bed without it. Sorry, that person doesn’t grow out of addiction. People who have never experienced addiction like I have spoken of make me shake my head. You will never truly know….
I agree with you. It’s really hard. I did it twice. Only twice in a dozen years! That’s how frickin hard it was, and I was only taking vicodin. This site would not have helped me at all!!! I read books on how to stop and they didn’t help me either because of the withdrawals.
The first time I went cold turkey when we went out of the country for a family reunion because I didn’t want to take all those pills on the airplane and I didn’t want to be high around my family. Then 8 years later I did it again because I could get suboxone.
I agree it is extremely tough without a detox program. In Trainspotting, those guys went cold turkey off heroin in the opening scene. I think you have to be really desperate to do that.
We need more detox programs and access to detox to make it easier to quit.
Tom, I had that same experience. In 10 years, I only managed to quit twice, and that was only from an addiction to vicodin. I needed it everyday. The first time I quit because I was out of the country and could not get it. The next time was 7 years later and I only quit then because I went on suboxone. NA couldn’t have helped me. This site couldn’t have helped me. Stanton Peele’s ideas didn’t help me. I read Stanton Peele’s book and put it down, totally discouraged. How the hell was I supposed to go through withdrawals, voluntarily? He didn’t show me how to quit.
The answer is in making detox readily available. Information and access to detox. I had access,but not information, didn’t even know it all those years.
Tom and Kelly –
I wish from the bottom of my heart that “addiction” was all about physical withdrawal. I really wholeheartedly do – because then, helping people with substance use problems would be entirely simplified – throw em in a detox unit for a week. There is a great system of detoxification in this country, and you can basically march into any hospital with a detox unit and demand treatment.
Unfortunately, people become fully detoxified, no more withdrawals, and yet they get right back to excessive substance use – all the time. This shows that it’s not so much about physical withdrawal.
I can’t even count how many times I fully detoxified – either cold turkey at home, in jail, or under medical supervision. Yet I went back and back for more. Why did I go back if I wasn’t having physical withdrawals any longer?
Because I thought substance use was my best viable option for personal happiness.
You should know, that even the most ardent supporters of the disease theory regularly dismiss physical withdrawal symptoms as the driving force of “addiction”. I hope you also know that I fully endorse medical detoxification for those who feel they may need it – it’s the only part of the existing treatment system I recommend. Physical withdrawal symptoms certainly make it harder to get focused on personal change. But for those who are committed to substance use as their main source of stress relief/happiness, detoxification will likely only help temporarily. Those who see past substances to focus on other things for gratification will definitely “mature out of addiction”. There is a change in perspective that comes about for people who really change these problems – and no pill will give it to them.
-Steven
Steve,
After the initial withdrawal, it does become mental. But, I will say, it’s not 100% mental. There are lingering physical withdrawals. I would have to force myself to do things after the physical withdrawal ended. It might be my mind telling me I’m tired or don’t feel like doing anything, but there still exists a physical aspect, IMO. Hopefully, one day, there will be a drug that will mimick dopamine.
Despite being an extremely well read person and hours every day in the Wall Street Journal and CSPAN during my addiction, I didn’t know any of the following…that I could march into any hospital detox unit and demand treatment, and that this treatment would be painless……..that suboxone existed until I heard about it on radio ads in 2010…. that after detox people regularly go back to substance use. How are addicted people supposed to get this information, or are we supposed to wait for them to mature out and start reading Stanton Peele?
It’s amazing how little I know about addiction. Steven’s post from 3:17pm gave me some new material to digest. I thank you.
“Because I thought substance use was my best viable option for personal happiness.”
Do you honestly believe that’s why you went back, Steve?
I went back because after the physical withdrawals were over, I was depressed and lethargic. Mental can be physical, IMO. That’s what I experienced, anyways. I went back because the depression and lethargy was just too much to bare.
I absolutely believe that. You are essentially saying the same thing though, but it’s framed differently. Notice I don’t say that substance use was necessarily the best option. I say that I “thought” it was my best “viable” option for personal happiness. Those are important qualifiers.
I would’ve rather been a movie star, traveling the world, or doing something else fabulous, and would’ve been happy doing those things. But at that point in my life, I believed the best I could do and have personal satisfaction-wise, was to get some heroin and shoot it up and get that quick high. I really did. If I had something better in the forefront of my mind that I was willing to do and believed I could do, I would’ve done it.
Yes I was lethargic and depressed, and even today, more than 10 years later I still get lethargic and depressed at times – yet I don’t run to heroin. I do not believe it’s my best viable option today. I realize that I can get a base pleasure out of heroin if I want, but it pales in comparison to my perspective on other activities I’d rather spend my time on. Stress, anxiety, tough breaks, and unhappiness may always come and go but I no longer connect them to substance use. I own these as facts of life that have nothing to do with substance use, because everyone deals with them at one time or another, but not everyone uses them as excuses to get high.
I also own substance use for what it is: the pursuit of happiness. I don’t live my life trying to escape pain – although I was convinced to do that for a while in the recovery culture. I think this reframe is incredibly helpful.
-Steven
Steve, the “growing out of addiction” is misleading. The growing does not start until after someone has already become willing and made the choice to quit.
And to be clear, when I say you’re essentially saying the same thing, I mean that when you say that you were depressed and lethargic, and you reacted to those feelings by choosing to get high – you’re saying that you thought you’d feel better (or “happier” in a broad sense of the term – more satisfied feeling, etc) if you were high.
The important difference (and I’m not saying it hasn’t worked for you, it sounds like it did) is that my framing of it doesn’t create a connection between hardship and substance use which must be resisted every time hardship is faced. Again, I’m not saying this what you go through, but framing it as a virtually automatic reaction caused by hardship does have this effect for many people. Depression etc (HALT) then become a triggers for substance use, because they are believed to be. I think this point of view sets people up to approach changing a substance use habit as a struggle to resist – whereas the happiness perspective asks you to own it as a simple pleasure, and put it in a realistic perspective of smallness and low-utility when compared to other pursuits that bring greater happiness. This destroys the struggle to resist and instead casts it as a choice between activities and lifestyles with varying levels of return on investment. From my perspective, you don’t live your life resisting, you live your life looking to greater things. I found it easier to choose for greater happiness than I did to resist an automatic reaction to stress.
-steven
I can understand what you are saying, Steve. I guess it’s just semantics at this point. Sometimes I take things literally when it comes to discussing this subject. The reason I went back was because I convinced myself I had to much going on and that I just couldn’t survive without it. The truth is, I couldn’t survive with it. My addiction took away everything I was worried about losing, anyways. The funny thing is, I have a hard time understanding the choices I made in active addiction now that I’m clean and sober. I do understand why I made them, though. If that makes any sense?
I understand my viewpoint is extreme, and I don’t expect everyone to get on board. At this point, I don’t even like to use the term addiction because it’s so loaded, although I do have to use it so that people know what I’m talking about. For people who are looking for a new way to approach this problem, I recommend not even seeing yourself as having an addiction, because then it becomes this monstrous thing that is greater than the sum of its parts, and takes on a life of its own. From my perspective, addiction is nothing more than a bunch of choices to pursue tiny pieces of happiness. I think this is really what it is. I also think that once this is acknowledged and owned, then the real process of doing an honest cost/benefit analysis, as well as a comparison against competing life options can actually begin. When the happiness element is ignored and replaced with attributing the behavior to disease, neuroses, underlying causes, whatever negative puzzling cause is the flavor of the month – then this clouds the natural process of cost/benefit analysis, and impedes the decision to move on with more satisfying choices.
But certainly, if you have a perspective that works for you, I’d never ask you to change it!
What I think is telling about your comments, is that you said you have a hard time understanding your past choices now that you’re on another path. I think this confirms my view that when people change this habit, it’s due to a change in perspective where those old choices no longer seem as valuable and attractive as they once did. I think you’ve focused on new options; those options looked better to you than your old pattern of use; and you’ve now subsequently moved successfully in the direction of those options.
I try not to think too much into the “disease” model. After all, I really don’t care what it’s called, I have it. I do understand, however, that it may give some individuals the wrong idea, or misguide them in a way that may not even be understood. It’s hard to generalize when it comes to addiction. I haven’t given my problem a label, I just want to concentrate on how to change old behaviors at this point.
The studies cited above do not include deaths which have been shown to decrease the recovery rates because users are more likely to die. The Nesarc study shows approximately 40% age 19-24, 14% age 25-44, 6.5% 45-64 and 1.7% 65 and older remain addicted. I believe the Nesarc found that approximately 15% of the population 18 or older reported proir or current addiction. This represents about 30 million US residents. The Alcohol Use Disorder statistics from the NESARC show of approximately 20 million former or current alcoholic dependent residents 25% or 5 million are still dependent and another 27% or 5.4 million are still abusing alcohol. I understand that the basic point; the trend seems to be that people age out of addictions and treatment seems to have little benefit and perhaps it is counterproductive. However, millions of people are addicted and for alcohol the mean time spent addicted or abusing seems to be 15 to 20 years. Along the way many die and many lives are destroyed. Let’s not kid ourselves, more research is needed. The entire treatment system in the US should be torn down and rebuilt but with what? Close inspection shows there is no effective treatment.
It’s interesting you should bring up deaths as a challenge to analysis of NESARC – as I attended a talk given by Stanton Peele just the other day, and he brought up this objection to such data (he was actually referring to some NSDUH data at the time, broken down by age group as you presented). According to Stanton, about 1 in 10,000 18-25 year olds die per year – of any cause! I don’t know the source of that number, but the point remains, that even if you attributed all of those deaths to drinking, they wouldn’t come close to accounting for the massive drop in rates of substance dependence between age groups.
As I said ” the trend seems to be that people age out of addictions”. My point was in terms of sheer numbers the problem remains serious even though people age out. Is waiting for maturity to set in our only recourse? Well done longitudinal studies are rare but those that do exist show a significant distortion of recovery rates when deaths are not included. The NESARC paper on recovery includes a discussion on this point.
These points aside I have two important questions. Where are the studies on how addicts manage to age out? When will the academy step forward and end a rehabilitation system built on faith healing and confrontation?
I don’t think we have to wait for it to set in – just like you don’t have to wait to get six-pack abs. If you want to find something better and more fulfilling than excessive substance use, you can find it. It might take some deliberate effort to explore your life options though.
That’s they key, finding something better and more fulfilling. Add a dash of willpower and we’re on our way. Sounds like habit replacement and I found that approach to work for me. Addiction is not a disease – it’s an ingrained habit driven by the dopamine reward system of the brain.
How do “co-dependents” mature out of their “co-dependency”? In other words, what do you suggest spouses or parents do when their lives are negatively impacted by their significant other who is only pursuing tiny bits of choices that bring them happiness? Alcohol seems the worst, since drunk people go on blackout rampages and therefore make lousy parents and spouses. Meth addicts can run off for years, sometimes with some tramp, and ignore their kids. The list goes on and on. These tiny bits of happiness for the addicted person are mounds of destruction for others. And then when you get clean, you have to rebuild your finances which can take years. But back to the point – what do you suggest the spouses or parents do?
It’s hardly ever I encounter folks with a writing form like yours.
Please elaborate on that very vague statement, Situation May. To whom are you directing your comment?
AA study shows those helping other addicted people have better outcomes.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/09/07/active-participation-in-aa-improves-long-term-outcomes/44324.html
I agree in the value of helping each other, something you don’t get when you just quit on your own or go to smart recovery meetings. My 2 cents.
“Grow out of addiction?” What the heck are you talking about? What “addiction” do you speak of? That is the most rediculous thing I have ever read. I just don’t know how one “grows” out of heroin addiction. Please explain.
I’m sorry, but I am a heroin addict who is 8 months into recovery, and I just think what you speak of here are people who are not addicts. These people are drug users. Plain and simple. You are useing the term “addiction” in the wrong way. Does this site know what real addiction is? Im baffled at such ignorance being spread on this site.
Hi Tom,
People in the recovery culture love to say that anyone who doesn’t eternally struggle with addiction aren’t “real addicts”. It’s a fallacious argument.
Hopefully this discussion of the “No True Scotsman” fallacy gives you some insight into what you’ve done in your comment: http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/No_True_Scotsman
-steven
In the NA meeting I attended, the old timers said you are an addict when you say you are. When I said in a closed meeting I am not an addict, they were fine with it and said I couldn’t come to that meeting anymore because closed meetings are for addicts only. I said we are just using the word different. I came to understand they believe they are an addict, always were, always will be. Whereas some people go through addictions and come out of it.
I don’t know about the treatment centers. When I went in the early 80’s, denial was the big buzzword. Say you are an alcoholic or you are in denial.
Ok, so you are basically telling me you use the term “addict” very loosely around this site. Let’s talk about people who are physically addicted to a drug. One who can’t function without their drug. One who can’t get out of bed without it. Sorry, that person doesn’t grow out of addiction IMO …
I was a heroin addicts for 6 years. I went to twelve step meetings for 2 years and couldn’t quit for longer than 6 weeks. And because i was an “addict”, i always had an excuse to relapse. Now ive been clean for 17 months and i wouldn’t go to a 12 step meeting if you paid me. No excuses, no shoulders to cry on. I’m happier and more successful than ever. Nothing against AA or NA, I am all for anything that helps people in need. Just like church, if thats what it takes for you to be a good person, I am all for it. But my higher power doesn’t require me to go to church to know him. And if 12 step meetings are what it takes for you to stay sober, great, but not everyone fits into the little box of religion or “addiction”. And if you try to put all addicts in the same box, your as close minded as someone who uses drugs everyday but says they arn’t an addict.
Let’s talk about people who are physically addicted to a drug. One who can’t function without their drug. One who can’t get out of bed without it. Sorry, that person doesn’t grow out of addiction. People who have never experienced addiction like I have spoken of make me shake my head. You will never truly know….
I agree with you. It’s really hard. I did it twice. Only twice in a dozen years! That’s how frickin hard it was, and I was only taking vicodin. This site would not have helped me at all!!! I read books on how to stop and they didn’t help me either because of the withdrawals.
The first time I went cold turkey when we went out of the country for a family reunion because I didn’t want to take all those pills on the airplane and I didn’t want to be high around my family. Then 8 years later I did it again because I could get suboxone.
I agree it is extremely tough without a detox program. In Trainspotting, those guys went cold turkey off heroin in the opening scene. I think you have to be really desperate to do that.
We need more detox programs and access to detox to make it easier to quit.
Tom, I had that same experience. In 10 years, I only managed to quit twice, and that was only from an addiction to vicodin. I needed it everyday. The first time I quit because I was out of the country and could not get it. The next time was 7 years later and I only quit then because I went on suboxone. NA couldn’t have helped me. This site couldn’t have helped me. Stanton Peele’s ideas didn’t help me. I read Stanton Peele’s book and put it down, totally discouraged. How the hell was I supposed to go through withdrawals, voluntarily? He didn’t show me how to quit.
The answer is in making detox readily available. Information and access to detox. I had access,but not information, didn’t even know it all those years.
Tom and Kelly –
I wish from the bottom of my heart that “addiction” was all about physical withdrawal. I really wholeheartedly do – because then, helping people with substance use problems would be entirely simplified – throw em in a detox unit for a week. There is a great system of detoxification in this country, and you can basically march into any hospital with a detox unit and demand treatment.
Unfortunately, people become fully detoxified, no more withdrawals, and yet they get right back to excessive substance use – all the time. This shows that it’s not so much about physical withdrawal.
I can’t even count how many times I fully detoxified – either cold turkey at home, in jail, or under medical supervision. Yet I went back and back for more. Why did I go back if I wasn’t having physical withdrawals any longer?
Because I thought substance use was my best viable option for personal happiness.
You should know, that even the most ardent supporters of the disease theory regularly dismiss physical withdrawal symptoms as the driving force of “addiction”. I hope you also know that I fully endorse medical detoxification for those who feel they may need it – it’s the only part of the existing treatment system I recommend. Physical withdrawal symptoms certainly make it harder to get focused on personal change. But for those who are committed to substance use as their main source of stress relief/happiness, detoxification will likely only help temporarily. Those who see past substances to focus on other things for gratification will definitely “mature out of addiction”. There is a change in perspective that comes about for people who really change these problems – and no pill will give it to them.
-Steven
Steve,
After the initial withdrawal, it does become mental. But, I will say, it’s not 100% mental. There are lingering physical withdrawals. I would have to force myself to do things after the physical withdrawal ended. It might be my mind telling me I’m tired or don’t feel like doing anything, but there still exists a physical aspect, IMO. Hopefully, one day, there will be a drug that will mimick dopamine.
Despite being an extremely well read person and hours every day in the Wall Street Journal and CSPAN during my addiction, I didn’t know any of the following…that I could march into any hospital detox unit and demand treatment, and that this treatment would be painless……..that suboxone existed until I heard about it on radio ads in 2010…. that after detox people regularly go back to substance use. How are addicted people supposed to get this information, or are we supposed to wait for them to mature out and start reading Stanton Peele?
It’s amazing how little I know about addiction. Steven’s post from 3:17pm gave me some new material to digest. I thank you.
“Because I thought substance use was my best viable option for personal happiness.”
Do you honestly believe that’s why you went back, Steve?
I went back because after the physical withdrawals were over, I was depressed and lethargic. Mental can be physical, IMO. That’s what I experienced, anyways. I went back because the depression and lethargy was just too much to bare.
I absolutely believe that. You are essentially saying the same thing though, but it’s framed differently. Notice I don’t say that substance use was necessarily the best option. I say that I “thought” it was my best “viable” option for personal happiness. Those are important qualifiers.
I would’ve rather been a movie star, traveling the world, or doing something else fabulous, and would’ve been happy doing those things. But at that point in my life, I believed the best I could do and have personal satisfaction-wise, was to get some heroin and shoot it up and get that quick high. I really did. If I had something better in the forefront of my mind that I was willing to do and believed I could do, I would’ve done it.
Yes I was lethargic and depressed, and even today, more than 10 years later I still get lethargic and depressed at times – yet I don’t run to heroin. I do not believe it’s my best viable option today. I realize that I can get a base pleasure out of heroin if I want, but it pales in comparison to my perspective on other activities I’d rather spend my time on. Stress, anxiety, tough breaks, and unhappiness may always come and go but I no longer connect them to substance use. I own these as facts of life that have nothing to do with substance use, because everyone deals with them at one time or another, but not everyone uses them as excuses to get high.
I also own substance use for what it is: the pursuit of happiness. I don’t live my life trying to escape pain – although I was convinced to do that for a while in the recovery culture. I think this reframe is incredibly helpful.
-Steven
Steve, the “growing out of addiction” is misleading. The growing does not start until after someone has already become willing and made the choice to quit.
And to be clear, when I say you’re essentially saying the same thing, I mean that when you say that you were depressed and lethargic, and you reacted to those feelings by choosing to get high – you’re saying that you thought you’d feel better (or “happier” in a broad sense of the term – more satisfied feeling, etc) if you were high.
The important difference (and I’m not saying it hasn’t worked for you, it sounds like it did) is that my framing of it doesn’t create a connection between hardship and substance use which must be resisted every time hardship is faced. Again, I’m not saying this what you go through, but framing it as a virtually automatic reaction caused by hardship does have this effect for many people. Depression etc (HALT) then become a triggers for substance use, because they are believed to be. I think this point of view sets people up to approach changing a substance use habit as a struggle to resist – whereas the happiness perspective asks you to own it as a simple pleasure, and put it in a realistic perspective of smallness and low-utility when compared to other pursuits that bring greater happiness. This destroys the struggle to resist and instead casts it as a choice between activities and lifestyles with varying levels of return on investment. From my perspective, you don’t live your life resisting, you live your life looking to greater things. I found it easier to choose for greater happiness than I did to resist an automatic reaction to stress.
-steven
I can understand what you are saying, Steve. I guess it’s just semantics at this point. Sometimes I take things literally when it comes to discussing this subject. The reason I went back was because I convinced myself I had to much going on and that I just couldn’t survive without it. The truth is, I couldn’t survive with it. My addiction took away everything I was worried about losing, anyways. The funny thing is, I have a hard time understanding the choices I made in active addiction now that I’m clean and sober. I do understand why I made them, though. If that makes any sense?
I understand my viewpoint is extreme, and I don’t expect everyone to get on board. At this point, I don’t even like to use the term addiction because it’s so loaded, although I do have to use it so that people know what I’m talking about. For people who are looking for a new way to approach this problem, I recommend not even seeing yourself as having an addiction, because then it becomes this monstrous thing that is greater than the sum of its parts, and takes on a life of its own. From my perspective, addiction is nothing more than a bunch of choices to pursue tiny pieces of happiness. I think this is really what it is. I also think that once this is acknowledged and owned, then the real process of doing an honest cost/benefit analysis, as well as a comparison against competing life options can actually begin. When the happiness element is ignored and replaced with attributing the behavior to disease, neuroses, underlying causes, whatever negative puzzling cause is the flavor of the month – then this clouds the natural process of cost/benefit analysis, and impedes the decision to move on with more satisfying choices.
But certainly, if you have a perspective that works for you, I’d never ask you to change it!
What I think is telling about your comments, is that you said you have a hard time understanding your past choices now that you’re on another path. I think this confirms my view that when people change this habit, it’s due to a change in perspective where those old choices no longer seem as valuable and attractive as they once did. I think you’ve focused on new options; those options looked better to you than your old pattern of use; and you’ve now subsequently moved successfully in the direction of those options.
I try not to think too much into the “disease” model. After all, I really don’t care what it’s called, I have it. I do understand, however, that it may give some individuals the wrong idea, or misguide them in a way that may not even be understood. It’s hard to generalize when it comes to addiction. I haven’t given my problem a label, I just want to concentrate on how to change old behaviors at this point.
The studies cited above do not include deaths which have been shown to decrease the recovery rates because users are more likely to die. The Nesarc study shows approximately 40% age 19-24, 14% age 25-44, 6.5% 45-64 and 1.7% 65 and older remain addicted. I believe the Nesarc found that approximately 15% of the population 18 or older reported proir or current addiction. This represents about 30 million US residents. The Alcohol Use Disorder statistics from the NESARC show of approximately 20 million former or current alcoholic dependent residents 25% or 5 million are still dependent and another 27% or 5.4 million are still abusing alcohol. I understand that the basic point; the trend seems to be that people age out of addictions and treatment seems to have little benefit and perhaps it is counterproductive. However, millions of people are addicted and for alcohol the mean time spent addicted or abusing seems to be 15 to 20 years. Along the way many die and many lives are destroyed. Let’s not kid ourselves, more research is needed. The entire treatment system in the US should be torn down and rebuilt but with what? Close inspection shows there is no effective treatment.
It’s interesting you should bring up deaths as a challenge to analysis of NESARC – as I attended a talk given by Stanton Peele just the other day, and he brought up this objection to such data (he was actually referring to some NSDUH data at the time, broken down by age group as you presented). According to Stanton, about 1 in 10,000 18-25 year olds die per year – of any cause! I don’t know the source of that number, but the point remains, that even if you attributed all of those deaths to drinking, they wouldn’t come close to accounting for the massive drop in rates of substance dependence between age groups.
As I said ” the trend seems to be that people age out of addictions”. My point was in terms of sheer numbers the problem remains serious even though people age out. Is waiting for maturity to set in our only recourse? Well done longitudinal studies are rare but those that do exist show a significant distortion of recovery rates when deaths are not included. The NESARC paper on recovery includes a discussion on this point.
These points aside I have two important questions. Where are the studies on how addicts manage to age out? When will the academy step forward and end a rehabilitation system built on faith healing and confrontation?
I don’t think we have to wait for it to set in – just like you don’t have to wait to get six-pack abs. If you want to find something better and more fulfilling than excessive substance use, you can find it. It might take some deliberate effort to explore your life options though.
That’s they key, finding something better and more fulfilling. Add a dash of willpower and we’re on our way. Sounds like habit replacement and I found that approach to work for me. Addiction is not a disease – it’s an ingrained habit driven by the dopamine reward system of the brain.
How do “co-dependents” mature out of their “co-dependency”? In other words, what do you suggest spouses or parents do when their lives are negatively impacted by their significant other who is only pursuing tiny bits of choices that bring them happiness? Alcohol seems the worst, since drunk people go on blackout rampages and therefore make lousy parents and spouses. Meth addicts can run off for years, sometimes with some tramp, and ignore their kids. The list goes on and on. These tiny bits of happiness for the addicted person are mounds of destruction for others. And then when you get clean, you have to rebuild your finances which can take years. But back to the point – what do you suggest the spouses or parents do?
It’s hardly ever I encounter folks with a writing form like yours.
Please elaborate on that very vague statement, Situation May. To whom are you directing your comment?