Addiction is a disease that strongly affects our thinking and brain chemistry. We will always search for an excuse not to seek help because we have such a strong compulsion to continue using drugs that we will trick ourselves into thinking that our life is manageable. Generally, if we find ourselves asking the question of whether we need help or not, the answer is yes. We often can’t see the reality of our own situation because our judgement is clouded by drugs and alcohol. However, there usually comes a point in time when we look around and see all the pain and suffering that has resulted from our addiction and realize that we need help. Perhaps we feel that our life is manageable and we have a good job, a family, and many friends. In that case, we need to look deeply within ourselves because, although we may be able to keep up outward appearances, we may be internally suffering from our addiction. Alcoholics Anonymous, a 12-Step recovery group, explains in the Big Book, “We were having trouble with personal relationships, we couldn’t control out emotional natures, we were a prey to misery and depression, we couldn’t make a living, we had a feeling of uselessness, we were full of fear, we were unhappy, we couldn’t seem to be of real help to other people.” These consequences of addiction and alcoholism don’t have to appear externally for us to realize we need to seek help. Everyone’s experience with addiction differs in some ways, but at the core, they are almost always defined by deep internal suffering as a result of an inability to control drinking or drug use. We like to think that we are unique and no one understands our internal suffering and that we are beyond help. This is far from the truth. Almost everyone who enters into recovery find that they are not alone in the feelings that drove their addiction. Attend a fellowship meeting or pick up any book about the experience of addiction and you will find that many others felt the same despair and hopelessness. They found a solution and so can you.
Addiction doesn’t have to be a sentence to a life of pain and misery. Recovery is possible by seeking help now. Oceanfront Recovery, a treatment facility in beautiful Laguna Beach, is staffed with caring and compassionate Detox professionals dedicated to making the process as comfortable as possible. For more information about Detox and Residential Treatment, please call today: (877) 279-1777
