People with experience in addiction health, or addiction in general, would agree there are certain stigmas attached to the word addict. The sad fact of life is that an addiction rarely affects just those who are actively using or drinking. The addict’s inner circle see’s the shame in the person and almost always immediately associates the addict as a sick person. Armed with dozens of facts about substance abuse and what it does to a person, perceptions can often default to the harmful idea of “This is a bad person.” Or “It is their fault that they are using, and the blame is on them.”
Addict to Addiction: Ownership
That word blame is something we are quite familiar with, whether we realize it or not. Often times, addicts don’t even have to associate themselves with it. Rather, it’s thrust upon them by those who fail to understand the true nature of addiction. With that in mind, it’s not hard to see how blame inhibits the addict’s growth in recovery. To put it simply, guilt means you have done bad things. Shame equates to recognizing you are a bad person. Understanding those key differences, we see where the possibility of growth and constructive healing is.
Let us examine that word guilt in the guise of another word; Ownership. When beginning recovery, one is tasked with a sense of self-examination of past actions, thoughts, and behaviors. Part of this self-examination involves recognizing where past faults exist. The strength-based side of an addict recognizing these specific feelings of guilt comes directly from that ownership. Once they own the fact they have done wrong, they can begin to understand underlining factors.
Furthermore, ownership of one’s own wrongdoings has the potential to instill a sense of self-confidence and pride within the addict in recovery, inspiring them to keep persisting and have life-long success. It’s recovery such as this that allows us to shift blame from the addict and back to the addiction.
Seek Help For Addiction
Through intervention models based on strength-based recovery, focusing strongly on a solid family dynamic, Compassionate Interventions aims to help both the addict and the affected family enter into a healing mindset, not bent on blame towards the addict themselves, but on the addiction that needs treatment, as well as the person or persons affected by the addiction who deserve, above all else, to be happy, joyous and free. Contact us today to learn more about our addiction intervention programs, including drug addiction intervention.
– J. Dalton Williams, BA