By Dr. Julio Rojas, Citizen Potawatomi Nation Behavioral Health, Licensed Health Service Psychologist and Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor
No other illness can conjure up feelings of anger, resentment, frustration, and despair like addiction. For those who suffer, and for those who love them, the journey is agonizing.
Addiction can be defined as a primary, progressive, chronic, and potentially fatal disease with genetic, psychological and socioenvironmental underpinnings. Neuroscience is advancing our understanding of changes to brain structures and functions that result from chronic exposure to addictive substances.
Since the brain is responsible for our day-to-day experiences of life — such as how we think, feel, behave, and interact with ourselves and others — it is helpful for individuals who struggle to understand addiction to see how this change unfolds as addiction progresses.
It is important to recognize that, for the individual you know and love, these changes in thinking, emotional functioning, behavior, and capacity for relationships are subtle. In the field of addiction, we often talk about the “cunning nature” of addiction to remind ourselves that it can be difficult for the person who is afflicted to see something that may be evident to their 10-year-old child.
Recognizing the cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and relational symptoms of addiction is important since these are the outward symptoms that correlate with changes to the brain’s structure and function.
Cognitive changes
In the early stages of drug use, a great deal of learning occurs. An individual may learn about the mood-altering properties of a chemical and the drug’s capacity to increase alertness, bring on a positive mood, or relieve stress and pain. Memory plays an important role as the experience of the first high and subsequent euphoria can become a permanent marker in the brain of an unusual chemically induced sensation.
The individual gradually attributes powers to the substance, (for example, “It helps me stay focused, be productive, feel less depressed”) and what the drug is doing for them is more important than what the drug may be doing to them.
These changes are subtle, and this is often a honeymoon period. Over repeated use, the mind-altered state becomes the norm, and the person becomes mentally preoccupied with obtaining their drug of choice. This mental obsession grows over time, and the individual will begin to develop rationalizations for their use and justifications for areas of their life that are becoming problematic.
Emotional changes
An enticing aspect of drugs of abuse is their ability to alter mood. Substances do what they promise in terms of alleviating pain, calming anxiety, and altering negative mood states.
Euphoric recall is one of the emotional responses that triggers urges to use, and part of treatment is helping the patient learn to play the tape forward past the immediate relief to the consequences that will usually follow.
In the end stages of the addictive progress, the patient may be irritable, angry, resentful, and hostile toward others. The individual who suffers from addiction may be disgusted with themself; they may be shame-ridden, guilt-ridden and at a loss to explain how this journey came to this point. The person may experience tremendous demoralization (such as loss of parental custody, incarceration, or a very public arrest), but fortunately, this may open a window of opportunity for help.
Behavioral changes
You may be confused that the person you know and love seems stuck in a vicious cycle of destructive behavior. “Why don’t they just stop or realize what they are doing?” you may ask. This behavior is the result of the limbic system (the emotional part of the brain) over-riding the prefrontal cortex. Fortunately, treatment and recovery can restore a balance between these parts of the brain. This restoration rarely occurs on its own without treatment or a recovery program.
Relationships
Over the course of the addictive process, individuals will become disconnected from their creator, higher power, or God of their understanding. The shame and guilt they experience will drive them to disconnect from their own minds and hearts. Then comes the rejection from family who can no longer endure the lies, broken promises, traumatic events, and loss of hope.
This is the isolation that characterizes the end of the line for most people who suffer from addiction. It is a place that many individuals who suffer from addiction will come to. Many welcome death at this point.
What can be done when such a complex and cunning illness has a hold of your loved one? First, it is important to seek others who understand addiction. Consider organizations like Al-Anon, Parents Helping Parents in Norman, Oklahoma, and/or consider speaking to a behavioral health professional.
Next, consider going to open meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, or other recovery support groups. Open meetings are for anyone who wants to learn about addiction, including family members, counselors, or clergy.
Have you ever spoken to someone in recovery? Have you ever listened to someone in recovery talk about their journey? It can be helpful to hear stories of how others escaped the grip of addiction. If we hear more of these success stories, we may begin to feel more hopeful that recovery works and that people do recover.
Upcoming event
I am planning a lecture titled Understanding Addiction on Sept. 15, 2022, at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Cultural Heritage Center from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Following my lecture, a panel of individuals in recovery from one year to 40 years will answer questions from the audience. They are doing this so that others will know that there is reason for hope. There will also be several organizations in attendance to share their efforts to address addiction in our community.
Addiction results in characteristic changes to an individual’s cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal functions. However, the good news is that recovery improves an individual’s capacity for those same skills to better than the person was before they developed addiction.
I hope you will join us to learn about addiction, meet people who are in successful recovery, and show your support for recovery efforts in our community.
Find out more about the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Behavioral Health Department at cpn.news/BH.