The brain disease that everyone wants you to just “get over”

The surgeon general recently published an article detailing substance abuse, its effects on the brain and hope for the future.  It went to great length to reiterate the fact that alcoholism and chronic substance use is a brain disease, reminding everyone out there that addicts have an illness and not simply some moral compass gone awry.  

Though most of us in the addiction field have known this for years, society still seems to view alcoholism through the lens of “making bad choices” and drug abuse through “not having good morals”.  Viewing addiction through this lens makes it more difficult for people to get sober, as they tend to blame it on the fact that they just don't make good enough choices.  It also makes it difficult for families to truly support a person in working towards sobriety because they tend to believe the person doesn’t want it bad enough, or they would clearly be sober.

I challenge each of you to go out and ask the loved one, friend, roommate or co-worker you know who is struggling with addiction the following question:

“If you had the option to simply turn off your addiction with the flip of a switch,
would you do it?”

I guarantee almost every person would say “Yes”.  In fact they would scream it from the mountaintops if they had the opportunity.  People don’t desire to stay addicted and they rarely have a poor moral compass.  In my experience alcoholics and addicts have great moral compasses and they have severe amounts of shame and guilt about the way they are behaving but simply don’t have the support or tools to stop…. because its a DISEASE.  A chronic, relapsing brain disease that society attempts to treat by encouraging people to just stop using.  Ask yourself the following questions to see your bias:

• If someone you knew had cancer, would you encourage them to just have more willpower to heal?

• If your mother was diagnosed with diabetes, would you tell her not to take medicine but to just get better?

• If a loved one with asthma asked you for your advice on a doctor, would you tell him to just get over the pain and breath harder?

Our society has a double standard when it comes to diseases.  Those that are acceptable, visible and non-shaming are talked about (diabetes, cancer, heart disease).  But for people with the brain disease of addiction, simply admitting you have an illness in the first place will often be met with judgment and is rarely met with an understanding that treatment is needed and its insanely difficult to quit on your own.  

I highly recommend reading the Surgeon General’s report, which can be found here: 
https://addiction.surgeongeneral.gov

In case you don’t have time to read the multi-hundred page document (wow!!!), let me summarize it here for you:

• Addiction is pretty much like other diseases such as heart disease.  Both interrupt the normal healthy functioning of an organ, have negative consequences, and are preventable and treatable, but if not treated can last a lifetime.

• Addiction is a chronic, relapsing brain disease.  It is identified by compulsive drug seeking and use regardless of harmful consequences.  It changes both the brain structure and how it works (called neuroadaptations).

• These neuroadaptations assist the brain in transitioning from controlled substance use to chronic misuse and last long after an individual stops using substances.

• More than 60% of people treated for substance use experience relapse within a year, much of this is due to the changes in the brain structure and chemistry.

• Genetic factors account for 40-60% of a persons vulnerability to addiction.

• As drug use continues the brain begins to change the way it actually processes information.  It hardwires itself to crave the drug of choice and create habitual pathways to steer a person towards continued use.

• 1 in 10 deaths among working adults are due to alcohol misuse.

• Treatment is effective, more than 25 million people with substance use disorders are currently in remission. 

• Medications can support the treatment process and assist with symptoms of cravings and withdraw.

• There are many paths to recovery.  You need only to get on the right path one time to begin the journey.

​Amber Reed, LSCSW, LCAC
Resolve
913.735.0577
www.kcresolve.com​

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