Before you can treat addiction, you have to realize that it generally comes in two parts. Most addictions have some type of physical component, whether it is touching the dice, the sexual release, the altered state of consciousness, or whatever it may be. There are far too many addictions to discuss here. The second part, and probably the hardest to conquer, is the mental side of the addiction.

You can remove people from their drugs, porn, gambling, but you cannnot remove them from their brains. For any treatment to be effective, the persons entire life must be changed, they must be removed from the environment which enabled them to access their addiction. For some that may mean something as simple as disconnecting their Internet, for others it can mean cutting off all of their old friendships and starting over with a new crowd, one that does not partake of their prior addictions.

The mental side of an addiction can persist for many years, and may never leave. The worst thing an addict can do is to expose themselves to people participating in, or even just talking about, their particular weakness. The best thing they can do is fill their life with positive people that never mention the "drug of choice" to the addict. People tend to think of illegal drugs when the phrase "drug of choice" is used, but for some it may be alcohol, nicotine, sex or gambling. Anything that causes an overpowering desire to repeat the experience can be your "drug of choice" and cause an addiction.

Most people that have an addiction are destined for many cycles of release and re-engagement with their addiction, a few will be able to make a clean break and live a much happier life. In my lifetime I have known people that were alcoholics, speed freaks, sex addicts, gamblers, etc. Most of them have let their addictions destroy their lives, and the lives of their loved ones, a few have managed to get clean and stay that way. The only two things that I have seen that had a lasting effect, were health problems caused by the addiction that were severe enough to motivate the addict, and finding religion.

The reasons that these two things worked, were fear of death, and being surrounded by people that were not connected to the addictive practices. There are some people that are strong enough to overcome addictions without either of these, but, very few. Treatment centers that offer residence programs can help the addict get a start, the first couple of weeks will always be the hardest, whether it involves getting substances out of your system, or just letting the memories of your last experience fade. If people leave the center and go right back into their old environment, most of them will relapse. People have triggers that spur addictive behavior and most of them do not even realize what they are, or even that they exist.

Behavior can be triggered by a smell, a sight, a noise, almost anything that happens in the moments before an addictive behavior is engaged in. Without changing the addicts environment, they have almost no chance of recovery.

Learn more about this author, Greg Formoe.
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