What you didn’t know about “Addiction” – part 5

 

I hope you have enjoyed what we’ve gone through so far. Kindly read the episode 4 here.

 

Today, we shall tackle the root cause of addiction, the effects and some solutions.

 

ROOT CAUSE OF ADDICTION / SOLUTIONS

The root cause of addiction develops when the urge to take up a substance or behavior hijacks parts of the brain that reward behavior and provide benefits for the body.

Like I indicated earlier, the many people who go through problems of stopping a behavior are not yet addicted. Spiritually, one possible cause of addiction is disconnection from God. This normally happens because the victims fail to live according to God’s will or direction. For persons like these, the first solution to start with should be reestablishing a connection with God. With substances and chemicals, illegal prescription is one of the causes of chemical addictions.

EFFECTS OF ADDICTIONS

– Weakened immune system

– Heart conditions ranging from abnormal heart rates to heart attacks and collapsed veins and blood vessel infections from injured drugs

– Nausea and abdominal pain, which can lead to changes in appetite and weight loss

– Increased in strain on the liver, which puts the person at risk of significant liver damage or liver failure (Particularly chemical addictions)

– Seizures, stroke, mental confusion and brain damage

– Lung disease (Chemical addiction)

– Problems with memory, attention and decision-making which make daily living more difficult (Behavioral and chemical)

– Effects on unborn babies

 

Substance use disorders can lead to multiple behavioral problems both in short and long term;

Aggressiveness

Hallucination

Addiction

Loss of self-control

Impulsiveness

Impaired judgement

 

The church’ stand on addiction

Like I mentioned earlier, the church considers addiction (behavioral and chemical) to be both a sin and a disease that can only be overcome with invocation of prayers, scripture, and a strong belief in the Holy Trinity.

What does the catechism of the church say about alcohol and drugs?

According to the catechism of the catholic church, it advocates the virtue of temperance which “disposes us to avoid every kind of excess: the abuse of food, alcohol, tobacco, or medicine (CCC, 2290)

Again, it says. “The use of drugs inflicts very grave damage on human health and life. Their use, except on strictly therapeutic grounds, is a grave offense. Clandestine production of and trafficking in drugs is scandalous practices. They constitute direct cooperation in evil, since they encourage people into practices contrary to the moral law.” (CCC, 2291)

 

 

How to help ourselves when in addiction or when a behavior becomes difficult to stop

-Admit that we are struggling

-Let us never be afraid

-Let us love ourselves. Let us appreciate what and who we are. We may sometimes have to blame ourselves but let us be easy on ourselves. Let us try to achieve inner peace within us.

-Like the church will advise, we need to be prayerful, fast and try to be committed to God

-We need to be disciplined too.

-If possible, let us seek help from experts (preferably, a priest, counsellor or psychologist) for counselling.

-Most importantly, let us have hope that we shall overcome our struggles

-Avoid creating an environment that makes us lonely. Many addicts commit their acts of addictions in secret.

-Let us try to do more spiritual works of mercy.

-Do a lot of exercises and eat healthily. For those struggling with a sexual habit, avoidance of foods that stimulate sexual pleasures will be very helpful.

-For drug or substance addicts, avoidance of self-prescription will do a lot of good.

-Avoid postponement of doing what is right. Whenever temptation comes, let’s try our possible best to overcome the temptation using our humanly will. The grace is sufficient. But we will need discipline and our will to overcome the temptations that always make us land into the same act we always cry to stop. Let us not bargain with the devil. Gradually, we will fully regain our will and we will always be victorious over the temptations that come away.

Note the etymology of addiction as stated from the onset “to devote, sacrifice, sell out, betray or abandon.”. So, addictions make us sacrifice, devote, sell out (that’s why drug/substance addicts can even steal just to get some drugs), betray or abandon ourselves to the “behavior or substance.

In order to be free or recover from addictions or free from certain behaviors, we need to do the opposite. We need to sell out, betray and abandon that act, behavior or substance we are struggling to stop. We will achieve this by total surrendering to Christ. Addiction is not a spiritual disorder. However, God can help us to recover from it. God may not just make it happen miraculously, God will definitely use humans (priests, counsellors, psychologists, parents, friends etc.) to help in the recovery. So, if we indeed love Christ and want to be free, let us try our possible best and seek for help.

 

How to help friends who are in addiction

– We need to show them extra love

– Share in their struggles

– Suggest or take them to experts who can help in the recovery of addictions

– Pray for them.

– Let us not judge or stigmatize them

– Never tell anybody else of an addict’s situation

– Try to make sure everything between you and the victim remains confidential especially if the victim comes to tell you about his/her problem

 

Join me in the final episode as we get assured that there is hope in ‘addiction.’ We shall also look at some testimonies about addiction.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *