Addiction: Why Quit? Addictions and Addiction Treatment

by Phil Rich, Ed.D., MSW, DCSW

Addiction separates people from everything around them. It makes invisible the damage it inflicts on the addict, those closest to the addict, and on the world at large. Addictions blind and desensitize the addict. But why quit?

A Multitude of Addictions

There are many types of addictions, and many things to become addicted to. Some, such as drug addiction, involve illegal or socially unacceptable behaviors. Others, like alcoholism, involve behaviors that are legal most of the time, but have limits to their legal and social acceptability.

Some addictions, once illegal and considered immoral, are big business nowadays although they can lead to tremendous personal and social destruction. Alcohol use and gambling, for instance, although actively promoted and encouraged, can easily get out of control and absolutely require a level of self-control and insight that many people don't have. And other addictions involve a distortion of normal and expected life functions such as eating, shopping, and sexual relationships.

The Price of Addiction

In some cases, the addiction itself destroys control and insight when under its influence. Alcohol and drugs are good examples (and alcohol can literally destroy parts of the brain in the long run).

Some addictions, once considered entirely normal and even desirable, are now clearly seen as problematic and increasingly unacceptable. The most obvious example, of course, is cigarettes. Then there are those addictions that are currently acceptable and considered benign, such as coffee drinking.

Even though caffeine is physically and emotionally addictive, the question remains as to what and how much damage it causes, and whether it will remain an acceptable addiction in the years to come. Addictions like this also beg the question of what threshold must be crossed, what damage must be caused, or what price paid before there is motivation for someone to quit the addiction.

There are also the normal life functions and interactions, such as eating, shopping, and sexual relationships, that lead to patterns of addictive behaviors in some people. Here the issues are more about self-control, regulation, and appropriate choice than quitting. In fact, abstinence in such cases produces a different kind of addiction that can be just as dangerous, or more so, such as anorexia.

Recognizing Addiction

The effects of addiction include behavioral, mind altering, mood altering, and physical change. Some of these changes are dangerous to others (for instance, drunk driving), and others dangerous only to the addict (overeating, for example). Some addictions produce immediate or rapid changes, and some changes appear only over extended and continuous addiction.

In some cases, the results of addiction are almost unnoticeable: for instance, smokers and coffee drinkers don't usually behave differently after they use. In these types of addictions, it's the inability to engage in the addiction that produces noticeable change.

In the case of all addictions, however, the absence of the addiction produces change. In fact, it's the emotional and often physical discomfort and anxiety that helps to maintain and drive addiction. This is one of those hallmarks by which addiction can be most clearly identified.

Why Quit?

Just as remaining addicted is a personal choice, so too is quitting the addiction. But why quit? Why give up the thing that brings relief? The question is what personal price or damage to health, relationships, social functioning, financial freedom, independence, or the lives of others must be paid before the addict decides to quit?

Some addictions have such a high price, it's obvious why someone should quit. Others, like caffeine use or addiction to chocolate, don't and quitting becomes more of a personal choice than a social, legal, or health imperative. But clearly, for some addicts, no price is too high and they die addicted, and often because of their addiction.

In the end, addicts quit when they fully realize that the relief brought by addiction is temporary only, that there's a price to pay for that relief, and that the price is too high. It's the addict who gets beyond denial who gets to have his or her life back again.

References:

Ellis, A., McInerney, J. F., DiGuiseppe, R., and Yeager, R. J. (1988). "Rational-Emotive Therapy with Alcoholics and Substance Abusers." Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Brown, S. (1985). "Treating the Alcoholic." New York, John Wiley.

Carnes, P. (1992). "Don't Call it Love: recovery from Sexual Addiction." New York, Bantam.

Fossum, M. A., and Mason, M. J. (1986). "Facing Shame: Families in Recovery." New York: W. W. Norton.

Goldstein, A. (1994). "Addiction: From Biology to Drug Policy." New York, W. H. Freeman.

Gorski, T. T., and Miller, M. (1986). "Staying Sober: A Guide for relapse Prevention." Independence, MO: Herald House/Independence Press.

Rich, P., & Copans, S. A. (2000). "The Healing Journey Through Addiction: Your Journal for Recovery and Self Renewal." New York: John Wiley.

Treadway, D. C. (1989). "Before it's Too Late." New York: W. W. Norton.

About the Author:

Phil Rich, Ed.D., MSW, DCSW [1] is the author of "Understanding, Assessing, and Rehabilitating Juvenile Sexual Offenders," the eight books in "The Healing Journey" series of self help journaling books, and two books in the "Therapy Homework Planner," series, all of which are published by John Wiley & Sons. He is the Clinical Director of the Stetson School, a long-term residential treatment program for sexually reactive children and juvenile sexual offenders.